Road Kill (1999)

Too much of everything

Just what I expected

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Truly awful movie made on a shoestring budget with some bad acting and pathetic plot about a hit-woman who gets followed around by some young geeks who want to film her bumping people off. The lovely Jennifer Rubin does not even have any nude scenes to keep anyone even remotely interested. thank god it's a short movie so the waste of your time doesn't seem to gone on forever. Jennifer has made several other higher quality movies such as "bitter harvest" "delusion" and "the fear inside". This movie has nobody else you will recognize because i'm sure most of the actors got paid "scale" wages as i doubt they spent more than 100K to make this gem.

I bought a copy of ROAD KILL from Blockbuster the day it came out in Sept. of 2001, and when I watched it the other day, I was reminded of just how fun a film it is.It's about a film student named Alex (Erik Palladino) who ignores his classmates' "seriofilms" featuring talking genitalia, and perks up only when his Kung Fu film is being shown. Needless to say, his teacher isn't too impressed with Alex's work, so he gives him an ultimatum: Do a new film that is unique and intelligent, or flunk the course.Alex is stressed out not only by his instructor, but by a mobster he got his "student loan" from, and his wackily menacing henchman who likes to play with knives. One of the funniest characters is Lars (Billy Jayne) a bleach blonde art student who throws tantrums on a regular basis. The complaints about dairy foods and the paranoia about carbon monoxide were really hilarious.The guys have a mysterious neighbor named Blue (Jennifer Rubin) and when they find out that she is a contract killer who is getting ready to change careers, they beg her to take them along on the road to her next and last assignment. Most of the film is quite funny and lighthearted but it takes a dark turn about 80 minutes in. To me, there isn't an excessive amount of violence, and anyway, the person Blue was violent with deserved to be punished.Overall, ROAD KILL is a unique indie film, with great performances. I even liked the music, especially the song in the beginning. Is this the Kate Donnellon I've heard so much about??? I'd sure like to see Matthew Leutwyler's second film THIS SPACE BETWEEN US (hint, hint) and I'm looking ahead also to DEAD AND BREAKFAST. He's a talented director. There's really nothing bad I could say about ROAD KILL.I'd give it an A.

reviewed by Bryan McFadden The true strength of this film lies in its clearly defined and original characters. The film has a clear sense of direction and the motivaltional complexity of Blue's character is an asset rather than a liability. Jennifer Rubin gives a powerful performance as Blue, a killer who does not take herself too seriously, but suffers from deep childhood trauma. Rubin plays the character with a careful balance between passionate intensity and lighthearted humanity. As a result, Blue is an easily believable character who elicts the sympathy and respect of the audience. This film is rich with entertaining allusion, notably the refence to the nose bandage in Chinatown. A truly wonderful film.

Checked this one out at the Santa Barbara film festival. It's a shame the release wasn't wider, there are definite cult possibilities. Impressive performance from "Silver Spoons" alum Billy Jayne. Perhaps a little too "pretentious student film" but had a lot of laughs and an unexpected touch to the end of the film.