 |
| Patrick Bergin, Kristy Swanson, and Chad Lowe in Highway to Hell |
Cast: Chad Lowe, Patrick Bergin, Kristy Swanson, Adam Storke, Pamela Gidley, Jarrett Lennon, C.J. Graham, Richard Farnsworth, Lita Ford, Gilbert Gottfried, Anne Meara, Amy Stiller, Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller. Screenplay: Brian Helgeland. Cinematography: Robin Vidgeon. Production design: Philip Dean Foreman. Film editing: Todd C. Ramsay, Randy D. Thornton. Music: Hidden Faces.
If only the performances and the jokes in Ate de Jong's Highway to Hell were as good as the sets, the costumes, the makeup, and the special effects. It's a riff on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth: A young couple, Rachel (Kristy Swanson) and Charlie (Chad Lowe), are on their way to Vegas to get married when Rachel is abducted by a demon in the guise of a highway patrolman (C.J. Graham). Charlie pursues them into hell, which looks very much like the Arizona desert, and eventually rescues her from the ruler of the underworld (Patrick Bergin). There's a nice turn by Richard Farnsworth as the old codger who warns them of the peril they face taking a back road to Vegas and, after the abduction happens, equips Charlie for his pursuit. Brian Helgeland's screenplay is imaginative, though it crams in a few too many inessential elements, including a cute dog and a cute kid. But Lowe and Swanson don't have the wit and charisma needed to make the audience care about whether the characters they play will survive. Some of the gags feel like they came from story conference ideas that were funny at the time but just prove distracting in execution. For example, the couple are traveling in a Ford Pinto that had been a pizza delivery car, to judge from the sign on top. It's amusing, but pointless, which might be said of the entire film.
