An arty exercise in American Gothic: the Texas motels, bars, coffee shops, etc., on the rounds of a vending-machine supplier (Dennis Quaid) who picks up, and takes with him, a part-time bachelor-party entertainer (Meg Ryan). The many-years-earlier prologue has a highly charged atmosphere of menace, and a couple of later scenes have a highly charged atmosphere of sexuality, without exposing vast expanses of skin. Somewhere along the road a large coincidence comes to light, a real lollapalooza, that demands of the viewer a fervent belief in fate. The slow, somber, calculated manner of the movie fails to disguise the absurdity. James Caan, easing into his new role as a character actor, a Ned Beatty or a Charles Durning, chews up the scenery entertainingly but selfishly. Directed by Steve Kloves. (1993) — Duncan Shepherd
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