Lewis & Clark & George

This quirky black comedy by writer/director McCall musters more pizzazz than most contemporary crime capers. Lewis (Xuereb) and Clark (Gunther) are escaped convicts criss-crossing the West with a tricky treasure map. Lewis is an illiterate Monty Clift-lookalike with a penchant for mindless violence, Clark a white collar criminal, a useful navigator but an unreliable ally - especially after he bumps into George (Rose McGowan), a mute femme fatale with a poisonous snake in her valise. This is the kind of lark the Jonathans Demme or Kaplan might have dashed off for the drive-in market in the '70s. It both satirises and typifies Texan trailer park culture - there's a funny throwaway bit when Lewis massacres a busload of New York tourists who've come to gawp at the cowboys, and a novel scene involving the consumption of frozen beer. Cult credentials are further enhanced by the reunion of the darkly handsome Xuereb and the voluptuous McGowan from Gregg Araki's little-seen youth classic The Doom Generation. This is nothing like as cutting-edge, but it's fun while it lasts. Propelled by a hip, surprisingly eclectic soundtrack by Ben Vaughn, and directed with a dab hand, it isn't a second too long.