interstate 60 movie review

Interstate 60 (2002)

• User Reviews
• The story. It's original and rich. Not everything is great, but overall, I really appreciate the effort.
• Has genuinely funny moments.
• Never boring. You know how it ends, but you still want to see what's next.
• The lawyer town is a stroke of genius. Very smart and very funny episode.
• There was no real bond between me, the viewer, and the main character. Mainly because some of his actions made him look rather unlikable (nothing too serious but I wouldn't applaud such behavior). Also, there was no real depth to him.
• Visually too simple. It really could have used some atmospheric visuals/score to augment the surrealism.
• O. W. Grant's problem was really unnecessary.

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Film review: interstate 60 – the best movie you’ve never heard of.

Many films don’t get the recognition they deserve, get overlooked or forgotten. Few offer the charm or delight to reward tracking them down.

Some years ago I made an appointment with my doctor, announced myself to reception on arrival, was told to take a seat and immediately experienced that annoying emotion I feel all too often of wishing I had remembered to bring a book to read while I waited. The waiting room was typically filled with women’s and celebrity magazines but amongst this I did find an Empire to flick through.

It was one of those end-of-year editions were they asked their various critics to name their best and worst films of the year, plus some fun categories; best onscreen duos, best fight scenes, etc. A sort of boring mix of Academy nods, MTV high-fives and Raspberry buckets over the head. In amongst this was one category that did pique my interest; Empire asked their critics to name the best movie no-ones heard of, and their pick was Interstate 60 .

Interstate 60 is the story of Neal Oliver (James Marsden), a young man at the crossroads of his life. He works the night shift at a warehouse to pay bills while he tries to make it as an artist. But as rejection letters mount, his father gets him an acceptance to an academy that will set him on a path towards becoming a lawyer, just like his father.

Neal is the sort of guy who indulges in a bit of superstition. He refuses to believe in coincidences, looks for the meaning behind things, believes in signs and prefers to roll the dice and see what fate has in store for him. Now he finds himself torn between making the safe choice, as his father and girlfriend expect, or pursuing that which makes him happy.

After a head injury starts messing with his perception he is given a mysterious assignment. He is to head west along Interstate 60, which does not exist, to deliver a package. It’s a chance to get away, enjoy the open road and think about his future for a few days before he has to make his big decision.

On the road he meets O. W. Grant (Gary Oldman), an immortal being who has the power to grant wishes but mostly likes messing with people. Neal asks for the one thing he wants most – the answers to his life. What he gets is a magic-8-ball that will always give him the right answer.

As Neal travels down the mythical Interstate 60, he meets others who have had the fortune, or misfortune, of meeting Grant. “Some people just don’t know what to wish for” as Grant says. He meets people whose lives have been lead astray by money, sex, drugs and other pleasurable pursuits. Or people fooled simply by their perceptions or long-held convictions. As his journey moves along, Neal feels more certain about what he needs to do about his life.

Interstate 60 is written and directed by Bob Gale, best known for co-writing Back to the Future , and it shares that film’s charm and life-affirming themes. It is a frame-story, filled with eccentric characters, of a journey through a magical, metaphorical land. It sports cameo appearances by Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Kurt Russell, Chris Cooper, Ann-Margret and Amy Smart. Lloyd and Oldman in particular look like they had great fun with this film and their roles.

Does Interstate 60 truly deserve the title of ‘best movie you’ve never heard of’?

Maybe not. That was a few years ago. It is not that hard to find anymore, I would not say it is easy, but I see it around often enough. Mention such an accolade to your average film-snob and they will no doubt provide a number of films that may better fill that space. And you know exactly what sort of films they would be.

Foreign? Check. Subtitled? Check. Brilliantly written, acted and directed? Check. Plot structures and character development that go against all the clichés of Western storytelling? Check. A story and themes that highlight some forgotten aspect of the human condition; that destroy your preconceptions of morality, faith and love; that will have you leaving the theatre wondering who you are, what you believe in and where you parked your car? Check.

You know those sorts of films, you know what to expect from them, you know who to ask if you want to find them. I’m not dismissing them, frankly I’d like to hear about more of them, but you need not worry that  Interstate 60 is one of those.

It is a movie to be enjoyed on a Friday night in with some pizza and beer. It is a film about road-trip odysseys, frontier adventures and the eccentric strangers and monsters you meet on the magical island stops; about not being fooled by your perceptions or that life follows a planned course but embracing its unexpected turns; about betting on your own dreams and taking the roads less travelled by. It is feel-good without being preachy, cheesy, self-helpy or religious. It is funny, it is clever and it will surprise you by being surprising. It will leave you feeling either pretty good about your life or pretty sure about how you are going to change it. Enjoy.

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Interstate 60 Reviews

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 8, 2005

Com mais um roteiro bastante imaginativo, Gale comprova que sua contribuio para o sucesso da srie De Volta para o Futuro foi mais do que aprecivel; foi fundamental.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 9, 2005

I couldn't help but think this would've made a pretty darn good TV show.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 12, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 13, 2003

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Interstate 60 - How have I never heard of this movie?

I just watched this one earlier today after stumbling across it at a thrift store and, as my title says, I want to know how the hell it is I have never heard of this movie.

Interstate 60 stars James Marsden as a recent college grad unsure of what to do with his future who has a run-in with a genie (Gary Oldman) who smokes a pipe with a monkey's head carved into it and who grants him his wish to give him a direction in life by having him deliver a package down the non-existent Interstate 60, which sends him into a phantasmagorical alternate America where he runs into a series of bizarre characters (including a man who can never stop eating and a woman in search of the perfect orgasm) and passing through a series of increasingly weird towns, including one where all drugs are legal and another populated entirely by lawyers. It is a fun, quirky, off-beat movie that has quite an all-star cast which, in addition to Marsden and Oldman also includes Christopher Lloyd, Chris Cooper, Amy Smart, Kurt Russel, Michael J. Fox, and Ann-Margaret, and was written and directed by Bob Gale, the screenwriter for the Back to the Future trilogy.

And as I've reflected over the movie in the past few hours what keeps occupying my mind more than anything in the film itself is how it is that a movie that has this much going for it could be such a complete and total cultural non-entity. Interstate 60 is not a modern classic, it is not a cult classic, and as far as I know it is never talked about as a hidden gem. In fact, much like Interstate 60 itself, the film might as well just not exist at all for all the cultural impact its had, but I can't help but feel that, by all rights, this film ought to be sitting in the Arrow Video library alongside other quirky cult gems from around the same time like Donnie Darko or The Happiness of the Katakuris. However, in the film, Marsden's odyssey down Interstate 60 begins when he starts seeing signs that are invisible to everyone else, and so I can't help but wonder if this is some similar sign that only I can see. I really wish I knew the answer but I'm going to have to end there because someone just knocked on my door, some guy smoking a pipe with a monkey's head carved into it. I need to see what he wants.

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INTERSTATE 60

By Randy Atamaniuk | August 27, 2002

Neal Oliver (James Marsden) has been offered the chance of a lifetime; to find his meaning of life, and to get the girl of his dreams. While having problems at home with his father, who wants him to pursue a career in law, Neal has chosen the artistic route; a career path his father does not approve of. By luck, pure coincidence or maybe even destiny, Neal meets up with Ray (Christopher Lloyd) who hires him to deliver a package to the city of Danver. The package itself, its contents unknown. Neal accepts Ray’s gracious offer, and embarks on his journey, onto the uncharted Interstate 60… a highway that doesn t exist on any map. Guided by billboards, with the girl of his dreams on every one of them, Neal comes upon his first hitch-hiking friend, O.W. Grant (Gary Oldman). After a brief conversation, Neal discovers that his journey may be the cause of Grant; from which he as granted a wish, that he may or may not have asked for. Cruising down the road as he passes Americana, he meets up with some of the most interesting characters. One of which, is Bob Cody (Chris Cooper). Bob is one of the greatest characters I ve ever seen; tough, honest, hates liars, and has an “explosive” temper if you get on his bad side. Amy Jo Johnson, the girl who is looking for the sexual experience of a lifetime. And then there was the town where all of its citizens are utilized to do work, in return for a highly addictive new drug. All enforced within the law, by the Libertarian Sheriff (Kurt Russell). Neal eventually gets into a little trouble, as he ends up in a town run by Lawyers. Incarcerated, it looks as if he’s reached the end of his adventures on I-60. Then, he meets her. The Girl (Amy Smart) of his dreams, who is also trapped in litigation hell. Neal gets help from his old pal, Bob Cody to get him and The Girl out, and they re off. Or are they? Neal seems to get himself into another predicament, as he is now being pursued by the police. After escaping from what seemed to be his ill-fated doom, Neal has finally awaken, realizing that he must choose his own path in life, and not to try and please everyone else, like his father. “I-60” has good intentions, and definitely has a message to it, or at least I saw it that way. But it’s also a lot of fun. Director Bob Gale, for what I see anyways, has not followed the conventional rules of movie-making, and instead given us a really different and yet refreshing story, with enchanting characters. What I really liked most about “I-60”, was that it felt like a movie that hasn t been made in over a decade; a picture with a 1980 s fantasy-feel to it; the way Hollywood used to make movies during that era, but keeping it fresh for todays modern audience. What I disliked about the film, was not the film itself, but was that I saw it at the San Diego Comic Con, on a small non-theatrical screen, a lousy sound system, and people talking throughout the movie. The film hits theaters in November, as I plan to see it again, in the proper environment. The best way I can sum up “I-60”, is if the Spielberg-produced television series “Amazing Stories” had branched off into a movie franchise, as the latter Zemeckis produced “Tales From the Crypt” series did, “I-60” would have to be the perfect candidate.

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