Fun with value-added

Rating: 9/10 (15 October 2007)

I've just scanned some of the reviews, but don't yet see a few things that should be of interest to some in seeing this movie. Forgive me if I repeat something I don't have time to find in this longish listing. The movie's a keeper. This is wink-wink nudge-nudge juice of the first water. I see great comments on the cast here, and it's amazing to see Hoyt Axton -- the guy who wrote "Joy To The World", "Never Been To Spain", etc. -- acting so credibly in this comic role. His mama helped Carl Perkins write "Blue Suede Shoes" for Pete's sake, and he just shines here. Gone too soon. And did you get a load of Spielberg peddling past the payphone on his 3-wheeled whatchamacallit when Hoyt is calling home at the last minute? He's a producer who participates, as with the double-bill playing on the movie theater marquee, his personal working titles for what later became "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"... The movie is laden with little nuggets, and it's a fun story with an ending that lets you walk away satisfied -- a movie that continues to be fun.