Joy Ride


Joy Ride is a film with a plot that requires an incredible string of coincidences to make it work. If you can suspend your disbelief easily, then you're in for an adrenaline-laden treat.

Lewis (Paul Walker) is driving across the American West from Berkeley to Boulder to pick up his "friend" Venna (Leelee Sobieski) who he also has a crush on. He makes a detour to Salt Lake City when he hears his brother Fuller (Steve Zahn) needs to be bailed out on a DUI charge. The two then continue the journey together, and to pass time, they purchase a CB radio. Lewis pretends to be Candy Cane, a lonely girl, and the two brothers pull a prank on a trucker with the handle Rusty Nail by asking him to show up at their motel, giving their neighbour's room number.

Unfortunately, the prank backfires on them as their neighbour is found near death with his jaw ripped off. As the two mull the consequences of their joke, Rusty Nail tracks them and takes them through a road trip from hell with his huge truck.

Rusty Nail toys with the two brothers: at first, he corners and almost crushes the 1971 Chrysler Newport they are driving, but backs off telling them he was just joking. When the brothers pick up Venna to continue their journey to New Jersey, Rusty Nail returns (in a really cool chase scene in a corn field), putting them all extremely close to death.

The final sequence is effective, which is what makes Joy Ride work. I'm pretty good at guessing outcomes of films, but I had my doubts at the end. Joy Ride is a highly enjoyable thriller. I recommend checking it out on the big screen.


Movie ramblings || Ram Samudrala || me@ram.org