U Turn (1997) User Reviews (245)

Dark, gritty and some very nice images

[philip_vanderveken · 8/10 · 28 March 2005]

"U Turn" seems to be a movie that not many people have enjoyed and I really wonder why that is. I'm not saying that it was the best movie ever, but it sure deserves better than what most people over here say about it.

The story starts with Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn), driving somewhere in the middle of the desert in Arizona, on his way to pay the bookies that have already taken two of his fingers because he was too late to pay them. His car breaks down and the only option that he has is to leave the main road and to go to a small, dusty town called Superior. In this town live all kind of weird people. A blind Indian who doesn't do much else but drinking Dr. Pepper on a bench, next to his dead dog; a dumb garage owner; a young macho, called T.N.T, who seems to come straight from the fifties and his nymphomaniac girlfriend... Bobby Cooper wants to get out of there as quickly as possible. But he has one problem. He's got no money because he was robbed and the mechanic charges him an enormous price for the repairs. He can't do anything else but to stay in the village, to try to live with these weird people and to stay out of the hands of the bookies until he has found some money...

I must say that I was quite surprised by this movie. The way everything was shot is really well done and the music (composed and selected by Ennio Morricone) gives it all an extra touch. Even all the acting was very convincing. With people like Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte I don't expect anything less than a good performance. But it has to be said: Jennifer Lopez, who certainly isn't a great actress, was actually pretty good in this movie.

All in all this is a very good movie, plenty of dark humor, good acting and some very nice shots. Personally I think this is one of Oliver Stone's finer movies and that's why I give it a 7.5/10.

Black humour of a kind rarely seen in mainstream Hollywood

[pfgpowell-1 · 8/10 · 11 April 2007]

As usual before adding my two ha'porth-worth of comment, I looked at other comments (including Roger Ebert). And, although I didn't read all of them (there are very many), I was surprised that none I read seemed to pick up what was perfectly obvious to me: this is a very funny film, but done in a deadpan style. So deadpan, in fact, that I'm not surprised that might be news to many. I have, coincidentally, recently been buying up on DVD quite a few classic film noir (Build My Gallows High, The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers) and like everyone else thought that the era of film noir had come and gone and that such films were no longer being produced. Well, blow me if I'm not very wrong: this is quintessential film noir (though done in colour and with the proviso that most film noir is not intended to be funny). It would be pointless to recount the plot, but if you liked all those classic Mitchum/Bogart/Van Helin/Edwrad g Robinson etc films, you will love this. Sean Penn never disappoints. By the way the very final twist in the plot had me laughing out loud. Go for it: you won't be disappointed.

Modern noir with a dark twist...

[centurymantra-2 · 7/10 · 25 July 2000]

Brilliant & hallucinatory cinematography, impeccable use of music, and a handful of dark, edgy character sketches all work together very nicely to make this bleak, dark-humoured desert noir an overlooked highlight of Oliver Stone's career. The highly evocative atmosphere plays out against the Arizona desert in a way that (in addition to foreshadowing some of the work done in Terry Gilliam's own twisted little masterpiece 'Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas') seems to mirror, in a more subtle and tasteful manner, much of Stone's work in 'Natural Born Killers'. However, rather than hitting us over the head with whatever socially charged 'message' he may have been attempting to convey in that film, here he is simply content to let it build up a thick and steamy ambience that moves our hapless comrades on towards their own impending personal apocalypse. Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, and Jennifer Lopez all turn in great performances and Billy Bob Thornton's eccentric character sketch elevates what may be defined as a bit part to a far more relevant status. Modern noir with a few dark twists and a taste all it's own that's well worth digging into...for those who have a taste for this kind of thing, if you know what I mean.

A grim but comic confection.

[planzing · 9 August 1999]

In "U-Turn," Oliver Stone narrows his focus from the broad-canvass projects he typically produces. Those seeking the knowing profundities of "JFK" or "Nixon" will be disappointed. This is a genre picture of the desert southwestern potboiler variety, a much-updated "Painted Desert" kind of film. Lots of bad luck, scorpions, whiskey, sexual perversity, bullying, greed, lots of sweat and very little shaving. The basic questions begged by a movie like this one are these: Who will have sex? Who will live? Who will die? And who will end up with the money? By the final reel, all these questions are very satisfactorily answered. For a picture of this type, "U-Turn" is very good indeed.

Sean Penn is smashing, Nolte has never been creepier, and Jennifer Lopez is, er, extremely effective in this film's only real female role. John Voight, buried in the role a mystic Indian, is most entertaining. And we get another patented oddball performance by Billy Bob Thornton that is absolutely worth the price of admission. For good measure, Juaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes deliver a too-brief but electrifying turn as a young couple adept at creating trouble. As if Sean Penn, in this picture, didn't have enough already.

Sure, the predictable desert atmospherics are a bit overdone. But the solid script by John Ridley, the letter-perfect performances, and Stone's sure directorial hand make this one of his better films.

This movie is out of the theatres, so one word to you parents about "U-Turn." This is not one to watch in the presence of the kiddies. It contains very graphic and violence and sexual material clearly unsuitable for young folk or the sensitive soul of any age.

But if you like your film noir with sand and scorpions thrown in for good measure, this is a sure-fire rental that will leave you fully satisfied.

Sordid tales in a little town of the southern USA.

[adam-x · 7/10 · 10 December 2004]

A marked gambler (Penn) on the run, comes to a little town in the middle of nowhere, south USA. A town filled with very unusual characters, sordid secrets and strange opportunities, that seem very appealing to this "Pat Poker" on the run, which desperately needs money to pay the idiotic, redneck town mechanic. Penn and Nolte are at the greatest level, and Lopez fills the requisites of her character. Beautiful piece of writing, with surprising plot twists which make way to a most brilliant ending, "Stone" style despair. A very misunderstood work by this brilliant, all-American director. Another piece of genuine America, with all her virtues and even more flaws, seen trough "stone" cold eyes...

Billy Bob Thornton And Joaquin Phoenix Stole The Movie, With What Little Parts They Had.

[FrancesTheWHORE · 7/10 · 8 March 2005]

U-Turn is about a man named Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) who is on his way to pay a debt to a gangster when his car breaks down in the small, redneck town of Superior. There, Bobby is taken advantage of by the good IL' boys in every way possible, from the dirty mechanic to the town sheriff. He meets a beautiful girl named Grace (Jennifer Lopez) and falls for her, and she seemingly falls for him as well. From here, there are twists and turns in the plot all the way to the very end of the movie.

Sean Penn was decent as Bobby, but seemed a bit week and was taken advantage of a bit too easily. I guess that was Bobby's character so he did a good job. Jennifer Lopez did not have as big a part as I thought, but she did OK with it. Nothing spectacular, just OK.

The characters that stole the movie, in my honest opinion, were Darrell the mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton) and Toby N. Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix). They had the redneck stereotypes down pat, especially Thornton.

This movie was a decent little thriller. I am glad I did not see it way back when it was in theaters but it is OK for a rental. I give 7 of 10 stars.

Probably not the best advertisement for Superior, AZ

[noizyme · 9/10 · 5 February 2005]

This is one of my favorite Oliver Stone films. It has everything (cheating incestuous sex, chopping off digits, a dumb hick mechanic, a blind native American who wants Dr. Pepper all the time, etc etc etc) that a well-rounded movie needs, plus it was completely done in a comic fashion. It is closest to Stone's other film "Natural Born Killers" by way of stylish camera shots and the addition of comedy into a dramatic setting.

Sean Penn brilliantly plays the lead character, whose car blows a radiator hose out in the middle of the Arizona desert, and the closest town is that of Superior, AZ, a dirt-road town with barely 1,000 people living there, if that. Penn goes through hell from the beginning when random characters in the city want something from him and in return, it drives him to try his best to get the hell out of Superior. Everything during his days in Superior is centered around money and the fact that he has hardly any. So he gets schemed into murders, and he gets whatever little he has taken away from him (his train ticket gets ripped up by the local hoodlum, TNT, again brilliantly played by Joaquin Phoenix, and he has several full bottles of beverages broken for different reasons). Therefore, he's constantly running in circles to get out of this town.

There is an all-star cast (back then, and now) of actors: Jennifer Lopez (a better singer than actress), Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Bob Thornton (the best among the bunch as the hick mechanic), Sean Penn, Claire Danes, Liv Tyler (only for a second in the train station), and Jon Voight...all packed into a nice DVD. The music had that comic, light-hearted side to it (with the country sound of a jew's-harp played over violin or whatever, etc) which helped you to see the irony that is driving him to madness in this town. Again the camera shots were awesome, and they had that Oliver Stone quality of the 90's where he would switch frames with the villain of the movie with an animal skull and switch the point-of-view to see what the actors are seeing, and so on.

I didn't like the ending so much. I kind of wanted things to resolve themselves, but instead, things just keep on falling into the bad-luck-category of his life. I also hated Jennifer Lopez's delivery of lines (just like in any other movie with her...The Cell, etc) because they feel so fake and put on that you know the director was just looking for T&A for the film. Also she doesn't play a native American very well. She has a thick accent straying too much towards Latino that you don't pick up on any cultural change until you get the story.

Overall, though, (bad point aside) it is a brilliant movie that is easy to watch if you like the other Stone films. I had to give it a 9/10 for great performances, great music, awesome story, and everything in between. Go out and buy it if your a fan of any of the actors listed above, or if you are trying to find a great weekend film with friends.

Good film

[dav7nine · 7/10 · 18 September 2004]

I have to say this film was sort of what I thought it was... I really enjoyed it!

I've seen Sean Penn in a few films now and they're all good. Oliver Stone is one of the finest men in film production. It's visually stunning, loads of mad camera pans and colour blast-outs! The supporting cast are great as well. Billy Bob Thornton looks nothing like him and is away with it, Jennifer Lopez is attractive an alluring, Nick Nolte is totally convincing and great as the wicked husband, Joiquin Phoenix is mad as TNT and possibly the best is John Voight as a blind homeless person!

A great film with a good ending... although I wouldn't like to be any of them!

A good 7/10

Gritty and brutal, but entertaining as all hell.

[ilovedolby · 9/10 · 23 May 2003]

`U Turn' is an assault on the senses. But then again, what more can one expect from director Oliver Stone whose innovative brand of filmmaking is often filled with characters that are violent, insane, heroic, and even bizarre. `U Turn' has many characters played by big name actors that intertwine themselves around a central character, in this case, played by Sean Penn (`Casualties Of War'). Ultimately, a film about getting away with murder, `U Turn' is an intriguing blend of story, violence, and strange people. `U Turn' takes place during a hot day in Arizona where we meet our principal character, Bobby (Penn), who is on his way to California to pay a debt to the mob that has helped him in one way or the other. When his car breaks down, Bobby is forced to have a redneck, roadside mechanic, named Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton), fix it. While his car is in the shop, he ends up walking into a local town where he meets some very eccentric people from a blind vagrant (Jon Voight), a drunken sheriff, a hillbilly and his girlfriend, to an exotic woman who sticks out like a sore thumb against the simplicity of the town. Every person he encounters ultimately leads to a conclusion that he could never have expected. Robert Richardson whose superb cinematography has been used in several films of note filmed `U Turn' masterfully. Richardson's craft with a camera can be seen in such other movies as `The Horse Whisperer,' `Snow Falling On Cedars,' and `The Four Feathers.' With its rough cuts, non-steady cam shots, and scenes filmed as the sun glaring down on the actors, Richardson's work gives a harsh and nauseating feel to the film. Stone's direction was excellent. He's an admirable director in that he doesn't follow the mainstream concepts that are commonly seen in most motion pictures. Watching a Stone film is like watching graduate film students show off their work-it's fresh, energetic, and exciting. `U Turn,' undoubtedly, has some of 1997s best performances. Penn is outstanding as a guy who just keeps happening on the wrong place at the wrong time. Jennifer Lopez is surprisingly good in her performances as the wife of a real estate salesman. Lopez seems to have some talent on the screen…unlike her singing career. Her performance in another offbeat movie, `Out Of Sight,' was also good. Nick Nolte is as Nick Nolte does-he's rough around the edges, perverse and violent as the real estate salesman who seems to rule over the sleepy town. Other performances of note are that of Thornton has a slack-jawed yokel mechanic. Joaquin Phoenix (`Signs') as a hillbilly and his simple-minded girlfriend, played by Claire Danes (`The Hours') give the film a hysterical notch. Other points of interest in the film are the score, composed by veteran, Italian, film composer Ennio Morrcone (`Mission To Mars') whose music adds a humorous atmosphere to the irony of the film. All in all, `U Turn' is a film that is gritty and brutal, but entertaining as all hell. ***1/2

Some days nothing goes right.

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 22 March 2003]

Oliver Stone directs this dramatic dark comedy about a small-time hood(Sean Penn)on the run with mob money. On the way to Las Vegas his car breaks down in a desolate little town Superior Arizona where the locals tend to welcome their guest with doses of sex, infidelity and murder-for-hire. Quirky, dark and humorous and full of off beat characters. Also in the cast are:Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Jennifer Lopez and Billy Bob Thornton. Even smaller parts are filled by Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes. Some comical relief comes from the old blind man played by Jon Voight. John Ridley's screenplay has you feeling sympathy for a character who probably has never deserved any. Fun to watch.

Sort of good but not really

[Derek237 · 5/10 · 20 February 2004]

I'm a huge fan of Oliver Stone, he's one of my favourite directors, but I've never been so on-the-fence about any of his movies. U-Turn has many good qualities, and also many bad qualities, too. I loved all the scenes with Bobby's interaction with the crazy townspeople, and I couldn't help but be amused when something bad happens to him. But the actual plot is stupid. The twists, turns, and double-crossings were so ridiculous that it seems like it's just spoofing a bunch of movies with those kinds of plot lines. It likely was the intention, but that still doesn't make it right. It's highlight is mostly the great cast and great acting.

U-Turn is definitely at the bottom of the list when it comes to Oliver Stone films, but if you've seen 'em all, you might as well see this one, too. After all, there are plenty of fans of the movie, and I sort of thought it was good....and kind of liked it. But I know Stone is above this and I expected more.

My rating: 5/10

Oliver Stones' best film by a wide margin.

[terraplane · 9/10 · 9 January 2004]

U Turn is a great film. Of course it borrows from other films, so what? Sean Penn turns in a great performance as does Nick Nolte, Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Voight.Jennifer Lopez does her best to keep up with the seasoned professionals and by and large succeeds. As the story unfolds we get some great cameo performances from Voight and Thornton, whilst Penn pulls out all the stops. The twisting noir-ish plot succeeds in keeping us enthralled for the duration. None of the characters are particularly likeable which could be a problem in certain circumstances but in this film it just serves to make us enjoy their various fates. If Stone were to make smaller scale films like this instead of overblown rubbish like Any Given Sunday, Natural Born Killers and The Doors he might just find a more willing audience.

Very entertaining

[AKS-6 · 6/10 · 16 April 2001]

I'm ashamed to say that even though I'd seen this film in the video store for years I haven't gotten around to renting it until a few days ago. Well, I've seen the film now and it was better than I expected. U Turn is a very entertaining, funny and violent film. Sean Penn is great as always, Lopez surprised me by actually doing a half decent job acting, something she hasn't done in any of the other films I've seen her in (with the exception of Out of Sight... maybe). I have to say, though, that the characters that make this film entertaining and sometimes even hilarious are Billy Bob Thornton's disgusting mechanic and Joaquin Phoenix's violent TNT. It was so funny to watch Phoenix's face every time the sheriff turned up. Hilarious. (6/10)

Stone throws everything onto the screen

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 29 December 2014]

Bobby (Sean Penn) is on his way to pay off a debt to a gangster who has already taken two fingers. His car breaks down as he pulls into desert outpost Superior, Arizona in the middle of nowhere. He leaves the car with Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton) the mechanic. He hits on Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez) but she's actually married to Jake (Nick Nolte) who catches them kissing. After punching him, Jake drives him back to town suggesting a scheme to kill Grace. A robbery at the store ends with his bag of money shot to bits. Darrell has his car ripped apart and wants $150 for the trouble. He calls the gangster who is not happy and sends a thug. At the diner, he talks to Jenny (Claire Danes) which provokes her boyfriend Toby N. Tucker (Joaquin Phoenix). Bobby goes to Jake with a proposal.

Director Oliver Stone is throwing everything onto the screen but not enough of it sticks. He fills this with crazy characters. The music and sound is deliberately wacky. He's trying so hard that it almost hurts to watch this. The style is so random that it all gets a bit tiresome. The characters are not compelling and Sean Penn doesn't make me care about his character. The temperature may be hot but there is no heat about any of this.

A good film noir given knew life by a great director

[bob the moo · 4 January 2002]

Bobby Cooper is on his way to pay off his gambling debt to a Las Vegas loan shark. However when his car breaks down he has to wait in a small town until it is fixed. Unwittingly he is meets a beautiful woman and her husband, who offers him money to kill her. With the odds stacking up against Bobby he finds himself drawn deeper into greed, theft and murder.

This was a step away from political dramas and conspiracy thrillers for Oliver Stone, here he takes a standard film-noir plot and gives it his own touch. The plot is pure noir - full of shady characters, femme fatales, double crosses and murder, but it is compelling right till the end. It's thrilling to see Bobby become trapped in the town of Superior by a series of events (some coincidental, some deliberate) and unable to get away from the inevitable.

But what Stone does makes it even better. He films the whole thing in a style similar to that of Natural Born Killers, except not as graphic. He uses different film stocks, he cuts in different shots of characters while they voice over - the overall effect adds to the tension and the feeling of excitement. However he also makes good use of the wide landscape and uses long panoramic shots - this isn't a pop video director! Another great touch is the music - it's not moody like most noirs but instead mirrors the bright desert by being upbeat and unusual, the overall effect being a very quirky feeling.

The cast are roundly excellent and a great list of names. Sean Penn is totally believable as someone who tries to avoid the unavoidable and you do feel like he's trapped. Lopez has not been better - she is every inch the sultry femme fatale. Nolte is creepy as her husband, and does well mixing his gruff exterior with deeper guilt. Powers Booth, Joaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes are all good in minor but still important characters. Pleasant surprises exist in the rest of the cast with Jon Voight, Laurie Metcalf and Liv Tyler making cameos - although in the case of Tyler I found it more distracting than the others (she appears in the background as if the film is saying "look - it's Liv Tyler".

Overall an excellent criminally-ignored film with a great cast and the touch of a great director.

Very weird

[Vindelander · 6/10 · 6 July 2021]

A superb cast couldn't save this train wreck of a film. It's certainly dark with undertones of Hitchcock but time again I wouldn't watch it as the story is so weak.

I have to say that Jon Voight and Billy Bob are at their unrecognisable best though but even their performances couldn't make it a good experience.

No U-Turn

[bradleftmee2 · 7/10 · 23 April 2006]

When I saw U-Turn, I didn't know what to expect. I guess I was looking forward to a good scary suspense flick. But then I was very surprised and found that the content of this movie was far greater and more interesting than just trying to scare the audience. This movie is showing emotions of fear, but also faith, commitment, sadness , and love. The end was so surprising, I gotta see it again. And I will watch it from a totally different perspective (this is a very rare quality for any movie), and I will enjoy it just as much, or maybe even more. I tried to detect fallacies in the story. I couldn't find one. Plus, for those who appreciate great music, the soundtrack only helps to heighten the experience of the film I wish I could say all the things I liked about it but that would spoil your experience. So take a night off and go see U-Turn. Sit back, relax, enjoy, and let it scare you. It's Miller time.

A film about trust

[cutloose1 · 10/10 · 23 November 2016]

Probably my favorite film by Oliver Stone and one of my favorite opening scenes. Seems to me this film is about the state of the nation when the Indians had the land and the state its in now. None of the reviews I've read of this film have mentioned the images of Indian tribes people that pop onto the screen at various times during the movie. All of the characters in the movie betray each other at some stage. Sort of harks back to the times of broken treaties. Great shots of of the landscape go unnoticed by the the characters as they go about their selfish enterprises. Respect for the land and for one another gone. Amidst some of the humour a sad undertone.

All I can say is: Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, JLo, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Bob Thorton and Oliver Stone Directing. Give a watch!

[jonapachesales · 7/10 · 30 June 2022]

Contrary to the fine sight to see when standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ. Sean Penn is in a living hell of Superior, AZ. This cast is deep and so is this story line. It's a great movie if you enjoy complex storyline thrillers. You can tell it's from 20+ years ago but the flow of the movie and entertainment of watching makes you forgot until you hear the scoring music in the background. It's definately worth a watch if you're into thrillers.

great cast (oh yeah.. the film too!)

[brichtr1 · 10/10 · 11 July 2002]

although some may hate the film for its darkness, you can't dismiss the great talent of the cast. Sean Penn was amazing as his constantly tormented character, Billy Bob Thornton was almost unrecognizable and his character soon became just as equally easy to hate, Claire Danes was funny "You killed him!" I almost died laughing.. but perhaps the BEST part of the movie was the sadly short but scene stealing role by Joaquin Phoenix! I actually bought this movie (as a DVD too!) JUST because he was in it.. in fact i was on a hunt for Joaquin movies.. and i am glad to say that I wasn't disappointed. He is not only an amazing actor (and scene stealer ^__^) but also able to be funny as hell! (Toby N. Tucker!) He also really gets into the roles (he shaved TNT into his hair for christ's sake! ).

Thankfully though I really liked the movie. It is dark, but that doesn't make it a bad movie, ONLY a movie that people who hate dark movies obviously wouldn't like. And that's all there is to it. (**SPOILER**) I admit I was disappointed when Bobby died at the end.. but at the same time I was also relieved. You can't for one second think that with all of his bad luck and bad decisions that he's gonna live happily ever after.. It went with the whole dark theme of the movie.

I also want to say that movies are SOO much better when you have NO idea what you are about to see. Your mind is untainted and unbiased on what is going to happen/how good it will be/etc. and you really get to judge it on your own, based on your own likes and dislikes. I had no idea what I was going to get when I bought this movie (other than Joaquin Phoenix ^_^) and it made the sick twisted plot of the movie that much more surprising. It really is a "weird" movie, but at least it's good at what it does.

Under-rated though not perfect

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 4 March 2001]

While this film isn't in the greatest form of the classic director Oliver Stone, it isn't his worst film like many have said (personally, I don't think Stone has ever made a really bad movie). U Turn is a film noir type of movie with Sean Penn getting mixed up with weirdos on his way to get to Vegas. These weirdos include Jennifer Lopez (one of her two films where she shows breast) as a seductive wife, Nick Nolte as a crazy husband and other towners like Jon Voight and Billy Bob Thornton. Film is not always on track and might be a little sloppy, but it is never boring, with fine performances by the entire cast. It starts with a dead animal, and is just fine through and through. B+

Head scratcher

[Willy-Nilly-VanIsle · 1/10 · 26 February 2023]

I am surprised by all the positive reviews i see here. The biggest question for me was how did so many solid actors sign up for this cheap movie? I will admit that Nike Nolte turned in a frighteningly believable performance in his role, and i can't fault some of the other performances, particularly Billy Bob who was entertaining in the mechanic's role. But there was next to no plot, it felt like it was being made up as it went along with extremely odd cinematography. It was far too long and not worth the wait. It was funny for the wrong reasons a lot of the time. And uncomfortable for the right reasons much of the time. Unfortunately can not recommend. (Note: i loved natural Born Killers and am not adverse to the genre, this one doesn't make the grade.)

More Sarcasm Than Tragedy

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 25 April 2009]

Watching "JFK" director Oliver Stone's movie "U-Turn" is like gawking at a gory accident. You know that you shouldn't stare, but the attraction of the mayhem is just too hypnotic. Everything that takes place in "U-Turn" qualifies as both gory and accidental. None of these grisly characters is remotely sympathetic. They bare their rotten-to-the-core, maggot-infested souls at every turn. Never do they fail to betray a trust. Not even the designated hero, played by Sean Penn, possesses any redeeming qualities. Disgusting and repellent as "U-Turn" appears, Stone casts a cinematic spell over this sow's ear and transforms it into a silk purse. Sprawling amid scenic, sun-drenched Arizona, "U-Turn" resembles visually a modern-day spaghetti western with its parched terrain, its grainy images, and its eccentric Ennio Morricone soundtrack. Morricone, you may recall, scored something like 60 Italian oaters. Anyway, his operatic music bristles with the kind of thorny twangs that accent character and underscore atmosphere.

Scenarist John Ridley adapted his novel about murder and incest entitled "Stray Dogs." This saga is as recklessly amoral as they come. You'll probably recognize the other movie genre with which it collides. The 1940s film noir genre featured doomed characters wallowing helplessly in a bottomless quicksand of tragedy. Guided by motives and instincts less than charitable, these characters displayed no qualms about selling out. Movies such as "Double Indemnity" (1944), "Detour" (1945), and "Out of the Past" (1947) and more recent efforts like "Red Rock West" (1993) epitomize film noir. More so than even these movies, "U-Turn" festers like an unsightly pustule and let its loathsome elements disperse in all their unsavory glamor on the big screen. No, "U-Turn" doesn't celebrate the human spirit; it destroys it. It's a movie where everything goes as wrong as it can go.

Things have been going wrong for Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) long before we see him cruising though the steamy desolation of Arizona in a 1964 red convertible Mustang. He plans to pay off his debt there to a nasty Russian loan shark. This $30-thousand debt has already cost him the last two fingers of his left hand. Bobby used to be a tennis coach, so you can see what irreversible damage this ritual mutilation has had on him. Somewhere in the desert near Globe, Arizona, Bobby's Mustang overheats. His radiator hose blows so he wheels into Darrell's garage. One look at Darrell (Billy Bob Thornton of "Sling Blade"), a grimy, motor-oil encrusted redneck mechanic who exposes his navel for all to see, and Bobby fears the worst. Since our protagonist cannot afford to take his car elsewhere, he leaves it in Darrell's greasy hands. One thing you can say about "U-Turn" is that it loosens a motley crew of characters. You would never eat dinner with any of these scum bags. You don't feel much sympathy for them either because they are all such pathetic wretches.

Bobby runs into the beguilingly seductive Grace (Jennifer Lopez of "Anaconda") on her way to hang drapes. He convinces her to let him lug her load. Later, at her palatial ranch house, Bobby makes a pass, and Grace reciprocates. Bursting in on them comes Grace's squinty-eyed husband Jake (Nick Nolte of "North Dallas Forty"). He drops Bobby with a knuckle-sandwich to the nose. Afterward, when Jake and Bobby get to acting like pals, Jake tries to persuade Bobby to kill Grace. Jake has a $50-thousand insurance plan on her. Bobby refuses. He is only waiting for Darrell to fix his ride and then he is out of there.

Each scene in "U-Turn" is a visual tour-de-force. Some of the images are particularly haunting. Grace tells Bobby about a fortune in cash that Jake has stashed in a floor safe. Stone shows us a high-angle shot of a naked Nolte sitting on the floor with a raven perched on his shoulder as he counts his loot. The scene on a mountain where Bobby nearly pushes Grace to her death has a breathless, high-wire quality. Stone knits the exposition (stuff you need to know about the characters and the plot) seamlessly into the action. During a shower, Bobby relives the painful memory of having his fingers clipped off in a storm.

The performances are magnetic. Sean Penn has never been more expressive as a jinxed gambler who swears his luck is indestructible. Nolte is incredibly lecherous as Jake. Gaunt, with fuzzy whiskers that match his cropped thatch of hair, Nolte appears straight out of chemotherapy. Lopez exudes a warm, sensuous sexuality that has the wail of the sirens calling in it. Powers Boothe plays a suspicious, hard-bitten sheriff who doesn't like what he sees going on between Bobby and Grace.

Oliver Stone said he wanted to produce a movie with no political agenda. "I wanted to make a film that would be judged on its merits as a movie and not be debated because of whatever political or social 'message' someone might want to read into it or impose on it." As off-beat and amoral as "U-Turn" emerges, perhaps the controversial director should have given more thought to his intentions. "U-Turn" seems as much of an indictment of contemporary American society as "Platoon" was about Vietnam. "U-Turn," however, is played more for sarcasm than tragedy.

Something of a Mess

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 9 October 2015]

A young punk drifter (Sean Penn) heading to Vegas to pay off his gambling debt before the Russian mafia kills him, is forced to stop in a Arizona town where everything that can go wrong, does go wrong for him.

What the heck is this? We have a decent cast, from Sean Penn to Joaquin Phoenix to Claire Danes (to name a few). A director (Oliver Stone) who is not perfect, but has made generally good films. And yet, this is sort of a mess.

Stone lets his artistic creativity go wild, with disastrous results. The camera angles and shots are goofy, and the plot is a bit too weird. While it seems like a metaphor for purgatory (or something like that), it comes out just being something of a poorly-mixed goulash.

Oliver Stone needs to stick with the grandiose

[MBunge · 3/10 · 3 August 2010]

This would be the Oliver Stone movie no one talks about. That's because Stone's fans find nothing here to praise and criticizing U Turn is a bit like kicking a crippled puppy; easy but ultimately unsatisfying. The film starts out with Sean Penn looking remarkably like singer k. d. lang and just goes downhill from there. It's mannered, uneven, empty and tiresome. For a filmmaker who has made many bold and controversial choices in his career, U Turn is Stone's brain fart. I don't think even he could explain what the hell he was doing here.

Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) is a city boy with hair like Elvis driving through the Arizona dessert in a red convertible with a bag full of money and two fingers cut off his left hand. His car breaks down in the dirt poor town of Superior, leading Bobby to encounter…

1. A bizarro white trash mechanic named Darrell (Bill Bob Thornton) whose oddness is only exceeded by his uncleanliness. 2. A caramel-colored temptress named Grace (Jennifer Lopez) whose mangled heart and soul are as obvious as a 100 foot tall, flashing neon sign that says "This Bitch Will Cut Off Your Penis". 3. Grace's crotchety and strangely toothed-husband Jake (Nick Nolte) who is old enough to be her grandfather and reminds me of an old timey prospector who went crazy looking for gold and ended up having sex with his mule. 4. Local sheriff Virgil Potter (Powers Boothe), who seems like the only normal person in the whole story until he too become a blubbering nutcase toward the end. 5. A blind, old Indian panhandler (Jon Voight. No, I'm not kidding. It's Jon Voight) whose philosophical musings sound like the transcripts of a bull session at a college dorm after a night of too much beer, too much weed and not enough women. 6. Toby and Jenny (Juaquin Phoenix and Claire Danes), teenage sweethearts who act like they just stepped out of a time capsule from 1953 and immediately snorted a big bag of crack.

The story is about whether Bobby will kill Grace for the money Jake promises him or will he kill Jake for the money Grace says he has hidden in his safe. There's also something about Bobby needing money to pay off a bookie/loan shark, but that gets discarded like a used tissue. Basically, Sean Penn just sort of wanders around while supposedly kooky and clever things happen around him.

There are a very few moments in U Turn that are not painful to watch. That's when Bobby acts like a normal guy that's gotten stuck inside a bad, community theater rendition of a Tennessee Williams play. Those moments are very brief, however, and the rest of the movie is like waiting to pass a kidney stone.

I could go on and on about how U Turn haphazardly veers from attempts at David Lynchian creepiness to stabs at vaudevillian comedy to imitations of world weary musings to pathetic invocations of film noir. I could dwell on how the actors all seem like they're in different movies. I could delve into how the script's overly deliberate effort at being unusual actually produces nothing but boredom. But none of that truly defines the opprobrious nature of this film. Yeah, that's right. I used the word opprobrious. U Turn forced me to bust out the thesaurus to adequately describe it.

No, what illustrates the extreme suckitude of this movie is the unending barrage of visual tic, tricks and shtick that Stone staples throughout it. Almost every technique and digression of camera work and editing that you can imagine is presented here without any of it having coherence or cogency. Yup. Thesaurus again. Listing all of Stone's distracting and aggravating nonsense would sap my will to live, so I'll just give you one example of the filmmaking he's doing here. In this movie, Stone is fixated on close ups of eyes and lips the way Quentin Tarantino is obsessed with feet.

Oliver Stone has become a little caricatured and clichéd for always taking on huge, provocative subjects in his work. Well, he needs to go right on telling grand stories about grander issues because U Turn proves that when Stone abandons relevance and significance to grasps at simple entertainment, it's like watching the guy who finishes last in a hot dog eating contest. It's gauche and doesn't amount to anything.