Keys to Tulsa

Call me crazy, but I really enjoyed this flick. I'm not nominating anyone for awards, but can't help but love the cast.

Being a heterosexual male, I am in TOTAL love with Joanna Going and Deborah Unger. SO SHOOT ME.

This one's for fun, gang. Not all movies have to reinvent the wheel. So pop a cool one and dig in...

My boyfriend and I made the horrible mistake of renting this one evening. We were intrigued as it had several actors in it that we liked. Also, I am from Tulsa, and not many movies are made that even mention Oklahoma (aside from stereotyping us as inbred crackers and redneck bigots). This film doesn't get away from the stereotyping at all. The accents were completely inaccurate, as well. This movie was so boring that after about an hour, we both agreed to shut it off. What was Cameron Diaz thinking when she agreed to do this one? If this is the only thing left on Saturday night at the video store, I recommend that you take the keys to the nearest theater. You'll pay more money, but at least you won't be wasting time. On a scale of one to ten, I give this one a 1/2.

About twenty minutes into this movie, I was already bored. Quite simply, these characters were fairly dull. Occasionally, something enjoyable would happen, but then things would slow down again. Fortunately, my patience was eventually rewarded, and the ending to this movie wasn't bad at all. However, it was by no means good enough to justify sitting through the first ninety minutes. So, I would say that the movie was mediocre overall, and considering all of the talent in the cast, I'd call this a disappointment.

Had this been produced by a major studio with an experienced director at the helm, this movie would of been so much better. Keys to Tulsa contains both the look and music of countless straight to video/cable movies from the same period. Which is a shame because the cast is great and was clearly game for anything. Fans of David Cronenberg's Crash will find it amusing to see James Spader and Deborah Kara Unger reuniting, playing a trailer trash couple instead of a yuppie couple. But just like in Crash, their characters aren't exactly faithful to each other. However it's the beautiful Joanna Going who steals the show, looking like a skinnier and smaller breasted Alyssa Milano as the stripper named Cherry who is constantly under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at all the wrong times. It's surprising to know that she was around 34 when she made this movie, as she looks more like 24. Adding more insult to her great performance, despite her large role her name nor picture is nowhere to be found on the region 1 DVD case from Artisan. Meanwhile, Cameron Diaz who only has a cameo that lasts a few minutes at the beginning of the film has second billing.

"Keys To Tulsa" is not completely uninteresting - that would be impossible with the cast it has (including a made-up-to-look-like-Elvis James Spader and a HOT Deborah Unger). But the story never seems to build and the movie drags from one purposeless dialogue scene to another; it goes on so long that it begins to resemble a soap opera. Certainly the only two tense scenes are not enough for the "thriller" this was misleadingly promoted as. (**)