Drifter Riley catches the eye of local sociopath Cassie, who recently stabbed her ex-boyfriend Billy in the throat at a Chinese restaurant. Cassie told Billy that she was pregnant, but Billy would have nothing to do with it, so she attempts to kill him, and now the whole town thinks she is crazy. Riley convinces her that he's much crazier than she is, so they start dating. He eventually is going to go back to LA, and she has to decide whether to leave her awesome life in a crappy small town or pursue a fellow nutcase across the United States.
6.0 out of 10 (Based on 1 ratings, 
Cassie - Rosanna Arquette
Riley - Eric Roberts
Pat - Mare Winningham
Billy - Jim Youngs
Director - Evelyn Purcell
Written by - Beth Henley
Typical formula for a romantic comedy - Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy loses girl. Boy wins girl back. The end.
Despite having Eric Roberts and a psycho as a lead female, this movie does suffer from the tired old formula that has been told and retold dozens upon dozens of times. You know how it is going to end, you know about 3/4 of the way in that Eric Roberts will lose the girl only to win her back at the end, etc.
So, the film will really have to rely on eccentricities and charm to win an audience, and for the most part, it does.
Having both of the main characters slightly chemically unbalanced does help the movie quite a bit. About midway through the movie, Eric Roberts gives his life story about how he had sex with a nurse when he was 13 on linoleum floors and threw somebody off a cliff or some crazy shit like that...all of this doesn't faze Cassie, she is apparently more turned on by his diatribe, as she immediately says she will date him. This makes a lot of their exchanges at least interesting, considering they are both crazy.
What doesn't help is the dialogue. Beth Henley, the screenwriter, has won several awards for her plays, which strikes me as odd that her dialogue in this movie is such crap. Most of it is forced, straining to put the characters into a position to further the plot along, even if the context makes no sense. One minute they are boating out at a lake, the next they are screaming at each other because they are tired of each other. The flow of the script is awful, and despite the awesome presence of Eric Roberts it just doesn't feel right.
There is some adequate character development, especially with the satellite characters such as her little brother, well placed background action (watch for Eric Roberts playing basketball with a bag of trash), and some odd faces made by the prestigious Mr. Roberts, but the rest of the movie is more or less interchangeable with any other romantic comedy.
If you are looking for a cute little date movie, you could definitely do worse, but I would only recommend it as a rental, as having watched it twice myself, number two was definitely more of a chore.
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Typical formula for a romantic comedy - Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy loses girl. B ...
Random violence - yes
Dialogue - no
Typical form - yes
Fork stab - yes
Some messy people on the lawn...
What's with the balloon costume?
Damn, that was mean...it probably took a while to light that.
Eric Roberts is a harmonica player now?
2 hit combo!
Trashcan basketball!
"Just another flesh wound?"
There's the patented "Eric Roberts concerned look."
Damn...that dude in the back is OUT.
What's with the Nightmare on Elm Street music?
Adidas plug?
They've known each other a week and they are already fighting like an old married couple?
Um...that's not a skill I'd be showing off, Eric...
What'd that trash can ever do to you?
Rolling Rock plug!
Pat - "She can't see anything with those pink little eyes of hers."
Eric Roberts - "Want to go on a drive with me?"
Cassie - "If you got something to say to me, go ahead."
Eric Roberts - "Alright."
Cassie - "Well?"
Eric Roberts - "I think you should go on a drive with me."
Eric Roberts - "You want to go out with me?"
Cassie - "I don't know."
Eric Roberts - "I've done a lot worse than you'll ever do."
Cassie - "Yeah? Well, ok."
Mom - "It's what they call a TV watching suit. It's for watching TV."
Eric Roberts - "I just threw my tape player over the goddamn ledge."
