Review of Breakdown (1997) by Guy G — 07 Nov 2011

[40/D] This movie does have some effective suspense and a few sequences of high tension in a well-photographed American Southwest desert milieu, reminiscent of Spielberg's Duel. Unfortunately, it's charms are all too derivative and easily smothered in the voluminous banalities (and predictability) of paper-thin plot, cardboard characters, and the usual blithe idiocy of stock Hollywood clichés.

And so, once again, we are treated to the indefatigable thrill zone born of the grand white yuppie paranoia of dirty inbred rednecks, hillbillies, Okies, crackers, truck drivers, and other assorted white trash: basically anyone speaking with a drawl. If that doesn't do it for you, there's a brand new cinematic action concept of cars traveling at high speed ramming each other, yes, actually ramming each other. Top it off with an inane and unnecessary climatic cliff-hanger, upon which to hang aforementioned cardboard actors, and I call that cheesecake.