Review of Motorama (1991) by Aaron B — 06 Aug 2012

Skeptical viewers may balk for whatever reason. A child star. Drew Barrymore. An uninformative, generic title. A silly, go-nowhere plot. But a quick scan of the cameos should at least allow for a seed of hope that this movie might be cool. John Deihl--Commissioner Gilroy from "The Shield", Jack Nance (nuff said), Dick Miller (previous cameos from Joe Dante's films like The Burbs and Gremlins should give one a good impression), and Flea. Now, I know there was a time when a Flea cameo became trite, but this is one of the good ones.

At any rate, the cameos are only a small part of the joys of this film. It boasts a base level of--get ready for it--optimistic cynicism that is both buoyant and desolate. I know that sounds like tripe, but it was a discernible sense that pervaded some of the best early 90's B movies. Remember, that was the era when "independent" actually meant something beside a bunch of navel-gazing hipsters talking about sex. This is similar to early Gus Van Sant, stuck in a blender with Alex Winter's Freaked, and more than a healthy dose of Adam Rifkin's screwball nihilism (The Chase, The Dark Backward).

In Motorama, misanthropy and youthful exuberance vie for the viewer's emotions, scenes are at turns whimsical, disturbing, and laugh out loud funny. I found myself admiring the concepts and the characters choices. Gus is without a doubt the smartest kid since Badger from Better Off Dead. Of course, he has to be. The opening scene, where we can hear his awful parents verbally abusing each other is harrowing, even by the morally devoid standards of the early 90's (and I say that in the best way). Gus's search, his quest is to find a sense of society, a sense of how people can get along without irony...it was something that it took our society at least a decade to accomplish, if that's even completely accurate.

At any rate, this is a fun, WTF movie with plenty of interesting aspects, certain to instill a sense of early 90's nostalgia and brighten your day. Highly recommended.