Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
Kayden
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Davis P
Joy Ride (2001) is a very intense suspenseful film starring Paul Walker, Steve Zahn, and Leelee Sobieski. The cast is very good, I think all three of the stars were very good picks for their roles and they nailed their performances. In the beginning, Steve's character is extremely irritating, but as the movie progresses, he grows on you and as in all movies of this kind, the terror makes him a more likable person. Walker is very lovable all the way through, and Sobieski plays her role in a likable way too, you'll be pulling for these college age kids the entire way while a crazy truck driver terrorizes them to the breaking point. The thriller aspect of the movie is done very well, there is suspense galore throughout, especially towards the end. The writing is pretty good for the most part, the writing elevates the tension between these guys who played a practical joke gone horribly wrong and the psychotic driver. Overall, I'd say that Joy Ride is a fun thriller that I'd recommend. 8/10.
SeanJoyce
Recently revisited JOY RIDE for the first time in years. John Dahl is a guy I can get behind...his early noir triumvirate (KILL ME AGAIN, RED ROCK WEST and THE LAST SEDUCTION) is marvelous while ROUNDERS is as essential to my existence as my heart flow.I love southwestern road movies...they're eerily transfixing, with their varied landscapes and desultory byroads that contain the very essence of America's identity. DUEL, RACE WITH THE DEVIL, THE HITCHER, BREAKDOWN, that stuff's great.JOY RIDE excels in all the same areas those movies did for exactly half of its running time. Two brothers bonding to outwit and evade a psychotic trucker (voiced by the wonderfully menacing Ted Levine) is pitch-perfect in pacing, thrills, and atmosphere.Everything changes once Leelee enters the picture. The plot becomes incoherent, the chemistry is sabotaged, and the well-earned tension is shattered. Worse yet, the decision to reveal the antagonist is not only jarring (this is clearly not the Mr. Lotion we all know fondly), it evaporates the air of mystery around his character. Had this movie stuck with the brothers while relegating Rusty Nail to just some deranged, detached voice on a CB radio, we'd have a near classic on our hands.JOY RIDE comes recommended, with a caveat that it could have been better.
Python Hyena
Joy Ride (2001): Dir: John Dahl / Cast: Paul Walker, Steve Zahn, Leelee Sobieski, Jessica Bowman / Voice: Ted Levine: Effective thriller about a ride home that becomes less than joyful when a prank turns foul. Paul Walker and Leelee Sobieski are heading for Colorado but along the way Walker ends up bailing his brother, played by Steve Zahn, out of jail. There is a C.B radio in the rental car so Zahn suggests they play a prank where Walker imitates a female wanting a good time. They are answered by a deep voice from a guy calling himself rusty Nail. When the prank results in a murder the two realize that they are being stalked. Tense up until its action violence ending where improbability plays a strong factor. Director John Dahl adds suspense by using atmosphere to his advantage. He previously made a similar film called Red Rock West. Walker and Zahn deliver strong performances as they come to realize that sometimes a prank can go into overkill. Leelee Sobieski also factors in once she is kidnapped and facing a shotgun trap. Jessica Bowman is featured briefly as her college friend who is also kidnapped. Rusty is only partially effective because it is never known how he stays ahead of the game. Ted Levine, who played the nasty Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs, voices the less impressive Rusty. It plays off the "cry wolf" theme well resulting in an eerie ride in suspense. Score: 8 ½ / 10
SnoopyStyle
Lewis Thomas (Paul Walker) is a college student who pines for his old friend Venna (Leelee Sobieski). When she tells him that she broke up with her boyfriend, he moves heaven and earth including buying a car to spend time on a road trip with her. On the way to pick her up, his loser brother Fuller (Steve Zahn) is in jail for drunk and disorderly. He picks Fuller up whom he hasn't seen in 5 years. Fuller is a jokester. First he buys a CB radio. Then he pushes Lewis to play a prank on a trucker. Lewis pretends to be a woman as he lures the trucker to a motel where a fight leaves a man near death. The guys are attacked by the psycho trucker. He seems to let them go and then they pick up Venna.The movie has great tension. Zahn does his annoying sidekick character very well. Walker is solid as the all-American type. The movie does take a break when the boys pick up Sobieski. It had build up to such a frantic pace that it feels like the movie stalls in that section. However, it eventually ramps up and delivers quite a satisfying action conclusion. The movie exceeds my B-movie horror expectations.
