Promising Start, Cheap Ending

Rating: Null/10 (10 May 2004)

With a stellar who's who cast of greats from yesterday and today, and a beginning that wastes no time, this movie looked and felt like a classic. I say 'felt' like a classic because for the first half hour I felt tight and uneasy, and whenever a film evokes queasiness I know its bound to be a winner. But it took the cheap, cliched way out after the first hour or so.

The basic plot involves a bunch of strangers more or less thrown together under various circumstances in a Nevada Motel due to a bad storm. They are soon forced to work together when a few from their small group begin turning up dead. Thats all I have to say about that.
The colorful combo include Cusack the efficient limo driver, DeMornay the stuck up actress he is chauffeuring, Liotta the no nonsense cop with the son of Gary Busey as his prisoner in transport, Peet the prostitute with a plan, a jerky hotel manager named Larry, a young unhappily married couple, and a boy in a bad state.
What frightened me the most was when May 10 was worked in as a pertinent date to the plot, I realized that was indeed the present date! (as I sit here and write this on May 10, hours after I saw it) I couldn't help but feel a dose of religion and superstition (same thing to me)
If you like feeling a little sick and rattled for an hour or so, this movie is worth seeing. If you like surprise endings for the sake of surprise endings, then this too is for you. If you despise cliched Hollywood endings, skip it. 5 out of 10