This flick was made back in the mid '80s, when Sean Penn was fucking Madonna. That would explain how Madonna came to do the closing theme for this film starring Sean Penn & why her song credit appeared in big-ass letters over any of the other credits when the movie ends.
Sean is a teenaged punk in middle-of-nowhere America where he spends his time scoring booze, weed, fixing cars, picking up chicks, watching TV, & pissing off authority figures. One night he meets his biological father, played to effective creepiness by Christopher Walken. Chris happens to be the biggest thief in the county, stealing tractors, breaking into safes in construction sites, etc. Sean decides to try to follow in his father's footsteps & some shit goes down.
About the only character that's got any consistency is Chris Walken's. Sean's is purely reactionary & most of the remaining cast end up serving as catalysts for his actions. He never does anything for himself, it's always cos someone else did something & that prompts Sean to act. Fortunately, Sean manages to pull off a more than respectable performance; but he's completely overshadowed by the far superior Walken who turns in not the finest work of his career, but a commendable go at it, nonetheless. Mary Stuart Masterson makes a few appearances as a chick who's either strong-willed or incredibly stupid, depending on what the scene & plot between Chirs & Sean call for. Even Chris Penn manages to get some camera time as Sean's brother.
The cinematography, set design, & directing of the film give a magnificent idea of what it feels to be like in a dinky-ass, go-nowhere town in the Midwest. It's boring as hell & you tend to fill your time w\ anything that's more entertaining than watching crops grow. While that sounds simple enough to pull off, this film gets it dead on the mark. The directing was competent. I wasn't particularly blown away by it, but it didn't really hinder the film, either. The writing was weak when it tried to get away from anything that didn't directly involve Chris & Sean crossing paths. But during those moments, it reaches admirable heights. The last ten or so minutes of the film represents some of the best the script has to offer.
Verdict : 3 stars. Walken & Penn damn near carry the entire film by themselves, but they do a good enough job to make it worth watching.
Edited By Malcolm on 1144943875