Joy Ride Review (2001)
Director: John Dahl
Writers: Clay Tarver, J.J. Abrams
Starring: Paul Walker, Steve Zahn, Leelee Sobieski, Ted Levine (voice)
Release Date: October 5, 2001
Runtime: 97 minutes
Continuing the Leelee Sobieski rewatch series reviews, Joy Ride landed at number four on my Top 5 list and revisiting it reminded me exactly why. This is a very good thriller that comes very close to being a great one, and the reason it does not quite get there has nothing to do with the performances and everything to do with a handful of moments where the script asks you to accept something that just does not hold up to any real scrutiny.
The setup is simple and effective. Lewis Thomas (Paul Walker) is a college student driving across the country to pick up his childhood crush Venna (Sobieski) in Boulder and bring her home for the holidays. On the way, he bails his reckless older brother Fuller (Steve Zahn) out of jail. In no time at all, Fuller is installing a CB radio in Lewis’ car that he had just bought and pulling a prank on a truck driver who goes by the handle Rusty Nail. The prank goes wrong in the worst possible way and suddenly the two of them are being hunted across the American Midwest by a trucker they cannot see and cannot reason with. They meet up with Venna and unwittingly bring her into the mayhem while also causing trouble for her friend Charlotte (Jessica Bowman).
What makes Joy Ride work as well as it does is that it commits to a few smart decisions and does not waver from them. The best of those decisions is keeping Rusty Nail almost entirely off screen. We never really see him. We hear his voice, and Ted Levine, who played Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, was a brilliant choice for that voice, and we see his truck, and that is it. The menace is entirely in what your imagination does with those two things, and it works remarkably well. Levine’s voice is genuinely unsettling in a way that a visible, physical presence probably would not have been. Some villains are scarier when you cannot see them, and Rusty Nail is absolutely one of those.
Paul Walker does exactly what Paul Walker always did; plays the reliable, likeable everyman with easy charm and gets the job done without ever really surprising you. That is not a criticism so much as an observation. Walker was always comfortable and always watchable, and Lewis is the kind of role he could play in his sleep. He carries his half of the film exactly as well as it needs to be carried.
Steve Zahn as Fuller is the wild card. Fuller is extremely annoying to me. He’s impulsive, reckless, funny in spite of himself, the kind of guy who creates problems and then acts surprised when those problems get worse. Zahn plays all of that perfectly, and there were moments watching this where I was legitimately hoping the movie would kill him off. That is a compliment I think; if I was supposed to like him then I certainly did not. When a supporting character irritates you that much you are invested, and Zahn walks the line between funny and infuriating with real skill throughout.
Then there is Leelee. This was the height of my crush on her, and she was gorgeous in this film. Still is. But beyond that, what she does with Venna is worth paying attention to. Venna is pulled into this situation through absolutely no fault of her own. She had nothing to do with the prank. She did not ask to be along for this nightmare. And Sobieski plays that with a real authenticity: the confusion, the fear, the frustration of being caught in someone else’s mess with no way out. She is not just a love interest here. She is a fully realized person reacting to an insane situation in ways that feel completely believable, especially the predicament she finds herself in at the end.
The film loses a little ground in its final act when the script leans into some moments that just defy logic. I will not get specific to avoid spoilers, but there are a couple of beats where you find yourself thinking that nobody would actually do that, or that could not actually work that way, and it takes the air out of the tension briefly. It is not enough to sink the movie but it is enough to keep it at three stars instead of four.
Joy Ride is a very good thriller that had the potential to be a great one (and it kinda still is). The villain is one of the most effective unseen antagonists in modern genre filmmaking, the cast does its job well, and director John Dahl builds tension with real competence throughout. The lapses in logic are frustrating precisely because everything around them is so solid.
It’s the kind of film that, if it isn’t already, is worthy of adding to your DVD collection (yes, stop streaming everything and get physical media again).
Joy Ride gets a three out of five: SUBSTANTIAL.
If you enjoy this one, you might also like to check out my review of Into the Woods or check out The Ultimate Leelee Sobieski Rewatch Hub for more reviews of films starring or featuring Leelee Sobieski. Or click here to check out more movie reviews.
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