Louco por Velocidade

Well, I disagree. I think Speedway Junky was very well acted.

Jordan Brower's heart-felt unrequited love really getting to me. I ended up wishing there was a boy out there like that for me. Daryl Hannah had a good supporting role, as did Jesse.

I thought it was very well done. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely worth watching. I loved it.

I suspect you'll only really like this if you saw it back in the day.

It's just a mess. Partly because the story is 99% from Johnny's point of view, then one of the few significant context switches features Eric telling Veronica he's frustrated because he loves Johnny, as if that's not the most obvious part of the film.

Annoying, but minor.

The Johnny/Eric story is the heart of the film and it's a good one.

But there's so many problems here. The movie can't decide if it wants to be edgy and a somewhat realistic view of the lives of young hustlers in Vegas or if it wants to be kindergarten.

Then there's the completely surreal ending starting with JT handing the two a baggie of money and drugs then shows up a week later demanding they return it like they run a safe deposit box-- they live in a motel.

But it gets far more surreal when bullets fly because JT shoots a can of tomato soup off Johnny's head and Eric shows up two seconds later and thinks Johnny has been shot.

It's hard to fathom how off the rails this goes.

I was expecting something good out of this movie -- it being produced by Gus Van Sant and all, the genius behind two incredible gay films, My Own Private Idaho and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. I wouldn't have seen it otherwise because of the inane plot (kid runs off to become a race car driver in West Virginia, and then decides to become a hussler). Luckily, Gus Van Sant's influence is evident in a few scenes, which makes me think there's a good movie in there somewhere.

At times, Speedway Junky feels like a Gen-Y remake of My Own Private Idaho, and it obviously doesn't do its predeccesor justice. However, the two male leads are far less complex and their relationship is as well. Interestingly, the chemistry between them saves this movie from complete obscurity. Too bad they're surrounded by mind-numbingly cliched supporting characters and crumby, juvenile dialogue ("Steven is bisexual. If you buy him something, he'll have sex with you.")

But, like I said, there's a bit of Van Sant in this film, most notably in the scenes between the two protagonists. If the director (incidently, I don't know who directed it) had focused on this relationship more than the hoky prostitution subplot, we would've had some fine gay cinema on our hands. Too bad.

Also, the influence Midnight Cowboy had on this film is mammoth. In both films, a naive guy with a Southern accent comes to the big city with high hopes, but ends up as a john alongside an unlikely friend, who may or may not be an object of desire. The ending is similar too, but I don't want to ruin it in case anyone actually wants to watch either movie.

All in all, bad movie, but if you look closely, you'll see it could've been great. It sadly doesn't come close to its influences: My Own Private Idaho and Midnight Cowboy.

I'd been wanting to see this film for a while, and I'm very disappointed now that I have. The first thing I found problematic was the complete lack of a plot in the first half hour. A story really needs to capture people's attention right from the start. This story did not. After that, what plot there was (which we've seen many times before -- and done much better!) was extremely contrived and totally predictable. The writing was stale and overflowing with cliches. And -- granted, though, I don't know any teenage hustlers in Vegas -- I found the characters to be completely unbelieveable. This was due partly to the hokey script but also partly to the miscasting of some of the central characters, especially Erik Alexander Gavica as "J.T." I find it hard to believe that anyone could ever REALLY think he was dangerous until after his voice had changed!

The one thing in this film I WAS pleased with -- and surprisingly so -- was Darryl Hannah's performance. I've never been much of a fan of hers, but I was impressed with her understated performance, especially given the weak material she had to work with and the fact that everyone else was overacting. I usually AM a fan of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, but even he was unfortunately miscast in this film.

"Speedway Junky" was a noble attempt, but didn't quite hit the mark.

Speedway Junky finds young and innocent Jesse Bradford who was raised in a military family running away from California to Charlotte, North Carolina so he can become part of the NASCAR circuit. Jesse makes a detour in Las Vegas and begins an odyssey with an ending that would have astonished him before he entered Sin City.

Getting ripped off his first night in Vegas, Bradford falls in with a gang of street hustlers led by Jonathan Taylor Thomas of whom one of the members is gay kid Jordan Brower. Bradford does what he has to do to survive, but not being gay or street wise his heart just ain't in the work.

But Brower's heart is with Bradford, he's crushing out big time on Jesse and sad to say that aspect of the friendship isn't and can't be returned. Or can it?

Bradford and Brower are an appealing pair of young kids just trying to survive. Jonathan Taylor Thomas shows some acting chops that you would not suspect he had as Tim Allen's son. Tiffani Amber-Thiessen another television refugee from Saved By The Bell and 90210 is also on hand as well.

Some make it, some don't survive this film. Speedway Junky is touching story that will break a few hearts, gay or straight.