A Guy Walks into a Bar

As this film opens, Josh (Fred Savage, formerly of TV's The Wonder Years) bids goodbye to his parents, preparing to drive to the west coast to pursue dreams of an acting career. While traveling through the desert, Josh picks up a beautiful hitchhiker. After enjoying a night of passion in a tourist cabin, Josh wakes up to find the hitchhiker gone, and his car and money missing. In short order Josh traces the woman to a local biker bar where he quickly runs afoul of a lowlife named Rattlesnake Dave, the creep behind all the dirty dealings. Using his acting skills, Josh manages to reclaim his car and money and, incredibly, gets the girl as well. Lacking an interesting or involving script, the film manages to be quite tedious in spite of its mercifully brief running time. This one ranks as a clean swing and a miss for its producer, the American Film Institute. Do yourself a favor and buy Breakdown, the white knuckle desert thriller starring Kurt Russell, instead. Aud: P. (S. Rees)