Road Kill with Clooney and Tarantino

Rating: 5/10 (16 August 2009)

Texas thief George Clooney (as Seth Gecko) teams up with kinky, demented brother Quentin Tarantino (as Richard Gecko) for a serial killing blood-fest; then, the two high-tail it to Mexico. They are driven there by ex-minister hostage Harvey Keitel (as Jacob Fuller) and his underage children, Juliette Lewis (as Kate) and Ernest Liu (as Scott). Hard-drinking Mr. Clooney thinks Mr. Keitel and Mr. Liu are "fags" because Liu is Asian. Horny Mr. Tarantino imagines Ms. Lewis wants him to eat her. Eventually, the bonded quintet wind up in an orgy at the "Titty Twister", a vampire-infested Mexican nightclub conveniently "Open Dusk Till Dawn"...
This film makes a very uncomfortable change in direction; it should have either stuck to the serial-killing brothers, or introduced the "undead" theme earlier. It doesn't always hit the mark, but director Robert Rodriguez and writer/co-star Tarantino inject some humor into the story. The way TV newscaster Kelly Preston reports the serial brothers' body count is fine satire. And, Clooney is like Cary Grant on acid. Probably, the film's peak is a very effective opening, with John Hawkes and Michael Parks excellent as the "World of Liquor" store clerk and his Texas ranger customer. Too bad they couldn't keep it up longer.
***** From Dusk Till Dawn (1/19/96) Robert Rodriguez ~ George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis