Final Cut 2005 Horror Movie Review

It is uncertain as to which sort of theme was in mind for this weakly constructed film, since its thin plot, upon which is strung a series of shabbily composed scenes, meanders erratically to a risible conclusion.  Action begins, intermingled with the credits, as the first of the movie’s many absurdities blurrily depicts, with nationally televised coverage, a shootout between a barricaded suspect, a man with a rifle seen through a second story apartment building window and, directly below him and in a largely unprotected and direct line of fire, uniformed police officers, one of the latter being killed, not surprisingly considering his virtually wide-open position below the gunman.  After the slain police officer’s funeral, his plainly downcast son, Lance Gaffney, explains through voiceover of his plan to go “on the road”, as in Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel, by hitchhiking to Los Angeles for the purpose of finding fame and fortune as an actor.  With a video camera and duffle bag, Lance begins his journey only to sadly discover that hitchhikers are no longer as acceptable as they were in Beat Generation days, and therefore he spends a good part of his roadside time by filming the pavement, his shoes, and other subjects that will lack impact for a viewer.  Lance’s odyssey falls far short of Kerouac’s work as he ambles along interstate highways where hitchhiking restrictions are ostensibly not being enforced, Gaffney even taken to sleeping in convenience lanes, once rather stupidly mere inches from a dead, disemboweled, and naturally odoriferous skunk.  Nonetheless, Lance’s situation seemingly improves when, while in a roadway café, a grossly overweight man named Buck introduces himself to the young man and, immediately after they become acquainted, Lance accepts with but mild reservations an offer from Buck to ride with him and share his lodgings.  Protracted sequences follow with Buck revealing to Lance that he is an independent filmmaker based in New Orleans, and when Lance describes his fondness for the Kerouac book, Buck surprises young Gaffney with the information that “On the Road” is intended to be his next production (although he mispronounces the author’s name), a remarkable coincidence that Lance, evidently emptied of reason, totally accepts upon faith.  Although a viewer will soon discern that Buck is a trifle shady, starry-eyed Lance does not, while each scene pares away those elements of intelligence with which he may have been allocated at birth.  As Buck drives onward to New Orleans, the two men chat about “On the Road”, and after Lance pleads for an audition in the part of Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady), the fat filmmaker abruptly decides that the part is his, despite his youth and inexperience.  During one of their motel room colloquia, Buck had recalled an incident from his own youth - - the death of his mother and his grief at her passing, but when the pair arrives at Buck’s home, it is clear that he shares it with his very much alive mother, to whom he introduces Lance.  This seems to mildly perplex a naive Lance, yet not enough to dissuade him from taking part in this film’s climactic scene.  As shall be expected from a work with a small budget, the cast and crew (all involved are from the New Orleans region, where the picture was shot) at times doubling, production values are something less than impressive.  Poverty of pace and sharpness is found throughout the affair, with the direction, writing, acting, and editing all of a piece, being awkward and frequently sophomoric, a combination that lowers the piece to the level of a student film.  Its most marked technical shortcoming stems from substandard looping with sound synchronization so poor that it drags an already shoddy effort down farther.  No extras are included for the Legacy DVD release, and despite the film not being suitable as entertainment within any genre, both the visuals and sound quality of the disc are fine.