Niagara, Niagara

Two misfits on the road. Been there, done that. But Robin Tunney's tour-de-force performance (which earned her Best Actress honors at the Venice Film Festival) saves this offbeat independent film from being a road to nowhere. Tunney stars as Marcy, who is afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome. Her tics, convulsions and profane outbursts don't seem to bother Seth (Henry Thomas), a vacant-eyed lug traumatized by his physically and verbally abusive father. They meet in a store where each is shoplifting and then it's off to Canada. En-route, they try to score Marcy's prescription medicine, run afoul of a suspicious pharmacist (a gratuitously mannered Stephen Lang) and are pursued by the police. Michael Parks (remember Then Came Bronson?) costars as a tow-truck operator who provides shelter for the illicit couple. It all ends inevitably, prompting the question: was this trip necessary? An optional purchase. (K. Lee Benson)