I was out South of Austin driving those rural county gravel roads through the rocks and cedars of the Texas hill country in our New 53 Chevy Belair when I rounded a bend and you wouldn't believe what met my eyes, there were five... Shit, wrong report... Well FATHER GEEK saw a POOR WHITE TRASH film about 30 years ago at a Drive-In, it was sooooo lowbrow its 1-sheet movie poster was just solid white with poorly printed black block letters 7 inches high saying POOR... WHITE... TRASH... no credits or anything else, it was not this movie in any shape or form. This one sounds like fun...
The movie is called Poor White Trash, and is stars Sean Young, William DeVane, Emmett Walsh, Jason London and Jaime Pressly. The movie begins with two boys, Mike and Lenny, who try to buy fake beer at a mini-mart, only to be turned down by the clerk, who calls them white trash. This angers the kids, and they return later that day, stage a car accident, and then rob the store, when they're quickly caught.
We next see them at trial, where they have a drunk public defender, who almost gets them sent to jail before Mike's mom Linda(Young)arrives and convinces the judge(Walsh)to let them out into her custody.
This sets up the movie, because Linda's marriage is falling apart, and the only bright spot in her life is her son. He's a really smart kid, and the first in his family that going to go to college, but if he's convicted of the crime, he won't get in. Linda goes to a bar to drown her sorrows and meets Brian(London), who she takes home and beds. While she's with Brian, Lenny convinces Mike that the only way to clear his record is to get a good lawyer(who they can't afford). It just so happens that Lenny grandfather, Ron(DeVane) is a lawyer. So, Lenny tells Mike that they need to get some money, which they attempt to do by robbing their neighbors.
As they rob the place of nick nacks and costume jewelry, Linda catches them, and saves the day again. At first she's angry, but Lenny explains their dilemma, and she reluctantly agrees.
The next day, we meet Ron and his young wife Sandy(Pressly, who also had a past relationship with Brian), and Rob tells the gang what they need to do to obtain his fee. What began with a simple case of shoplifting, quickly dissolves into a string of robberies, attempted murder, high speed trailer chases, and a hotel in the Virgin Islands. I don't want to give anything away, because there are lots of fun and suprising twists.
What I will talk about it the performances, which are some of the best I've seen. Most of the people in here are familiar faces, B stars who everyone knows, but no superstars, so you never expect too much I was so surprised at how good everyone was. Young, who's great in stuff like Blade Runner and No Way Out, but really sucked ass in Ace Ventura shows that she can hold her own in a comedy. She runs the gamut from sloppy drunk to crime boss, to fugitive from the law, and handles the transformations with ease. She really has good chemistry with the kid who plays her son, and you can really feel her love, and understand why she'll do anything to give him a better life than her own.
Walsh is always great, and he's perfect as the crotchety old judge. Pressly's also good, and shows a funny side to the sexpot she usually plays. However, hands down, the two best performances are from DeVane and London. I think for DeVane, Ron Lake could be a role like Vincent Vega was for Travolta. He is perfect as the sleezeball lawyer, who obsesses about his wife and "beer can garden". He has some of the movies best lines too. This is totally out of character for DeVane, it's good to see him take a risk, and it paid off big time. London is the other big surprise. Some of the talent we saw in Dazed and Confused is back here big time. He almost steals the show in a very strong supporting role. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some award buzz for this performance, and he deserves it.
Overall, I was reminded of the Coen brothers early work, but that might be the theme of crime/betrayal more than anything else. It isn't bloody, but the language is quite course at times. A very, very funny movie which owes a lot to the superb work by the actors and a clever script. The direction is solid, but not spectacular.
The movie is directed by first timer Michael Addis and written by Addis and Tony Urban. The movie is produced by Kingsize Entertainment. I was told this film debuts at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival next month in Aspen, Colorado, so if anyone's in that area, you can see it there.
Thanks for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it!
Vitamin K
