Kalifornia
David Duchovny is a blocked author with a fascination for outlaw  killers who hatches a plan to road trip through America's mass-murder  landmarks to finish his book. He enlists his frustrated photographer  girlfriend Michelle Forbes, who desperately wants to leave the East Coast  for L.A., to illustrate the tome, and they advertise for riding partners.  Luckily for them, they wind up with a veteran killer, the greasy trailer-park  ex-con Brad Pitt, who decides to skip parole with his cowering child-woman  girlfriend Juliette Lewis. Duchovny is enamored by gun-toting Pitt's  recklessness and lawless disregard for, well, everything; he's simultaneously  terrified and thrilled by Pitt's brutal beating of a barfly. Meanwhile, Pitt's  leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.Directed with a cool remove by Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds2000),Kaliforniafalls somewhere betweenBadlandsandNatural Born Killers. Pitt brings a ferocious magnetism to his part, but  it's still hard to buy genial Duchovny's odd attraction; Juliette Lewis conveys a  terrifying sense of victimization with her poor dumb creature. Despite the film's  best efforts, it never really plumbs the psyche of Pitt's  simmering psycho--he's just plain bad, you know--but it does fashion an  effective little thriller out of the tensions brewing in the restless  quartet.--Sean Axmaker