Movie Review: American Strays

I was immediately intrigued by the movie "American Strays" because... well, the cover looked cool. The title was neat, and the cover had Luke Perry and Jennifer Tilly (with some unknown guy in the middle) holding up guns and looking tough. When I read the back of the case and saw that it was about "10 dangerous strangers" and how their lives intertwine at one diner, I was sold. I knew this movie, at the very least, had to be interesting, if not great.

After watching it last night, I decided that, while interesting, the movie was just okay... for several reasons. First of all, from beginning to end, this movie just tried way too hard to be a Tarantino movie. I can pick out several scenes and characters that seem like downright copies of Tarantino-related films. For example, the couple in the very beginning (the woman especially, with her cherry dress and bra hanging out) were straight out of "True Romance" (a movie written by Tarantino). The mafia men in their suits at the diner, along with most of the ending reminded me of "Reservoir Dogs". The scruffy black man in the wheelchair appeared to be a Samuel L. Jackson substitute, and the vacuum salesman reminded me very much of Harvey Keitel from "Pulp Fiction". The second thing wrong with this movie was that every single scene was desperately attempting to have forced witty dialogue. But, unlike a Tarantino movie, the acting wasn't that great and the dialogue didn't flow well; Both lacked wit, charm, and overall coolness.

The biggest crime this movie commits is that its cover is completely false! Luke Perry, the unknown guy (Eric Roberts, I think his name is), and Jennifer Tilly are the least tough characters in the whole movie! Eric Roberts was the lamest character of them all, and he doesn't even have a gun throughout the entire film (like the cover led me to believe)! And while Luke Perry and Jennifer Tilly do have guns, they use them the least out of everybody else in the movie. Also, the cover shows Eric Roberts with his hair swept back and looking all tough, when in the movie he's a big dork with big glasses and his hair swept forward, in typical nerd-fashion. And, they show Tilly with a tight black dress that she never wears in the film, not to mention, that she doesn't even show up in the movie until it's almost over. Even the description of the plot was wrong, because while most of the characters' lives intertwined in the diner, there were two whole storylines that were never tied in with anything. And the tag line on the cover, "Love 'em or Kill 'em", didn't really make any sense. It makes me wonder if the people that made the case even watched the movie. Completely false advertising!

Despite all these gripes, the movie wasn't terrible. If you like movies that don't really make much sense, but are entertaining nonetheless, then I recommend "American Strays". Just don't judge a book by its cover... and try not to think about how a man in a wheelchair is able to drive a car.