Sunday, July 6, 2008

Just Add Water (2008) R - 3 Stars

Lately, I've just been grabbing movies cause I like the title or the way the cover looks and thus why I grabbed this one. It ended up being a pretty cute little movie. A real dead end desert nothing of a town, has been taken hostage by a group of young meth making hoodlums.

Not much happens in the desert of Trona, California. Ray Tuckby (Dylan Walsh), is an underground parking lot attendant by day and a husband and father by night. His wife Charlene (Penny Balfour), suffers from agoraphobia, and is too afraid to leave the house while his dysfunctional son Eddie (Jonah Hill). Ray has to drive down to the local market almost everyday to pick something up for dinner. But it's there he gets to see the prettiest girl in town, Nora (Tracy Middendorf ), his childhood sweetheart. The market doesn't stock much these days as deliveries are few and far between.

The whole town doesn't have much going on for it now that the lake has dried up when water was diverted elsewhere. Along with it the tourists, law enforcement and most of the people, the town has become a real dust bowl. But, it's where Ray was raised and where he calls home. Problem is, now Dirk (Will Rothhaar) bought up all the property and owns just about everything in town and everyone must pay him rent and for utilities. He runs the town with scare tactics. When one neighbor can't pay his rent on time, the whole block suffers without power.

Dirk's busy most of the time with his thugs in his many meth labs around town. But when Merl Stryker (Danny DeVito) comes to town to set a new gas station, Dirk tries to bully him out of town too.

When Ray's life seems to be falling apart around him, his childhood dreams of how great this town once was, resurface. Along with a little help from his friends, Ray turns Trona back into the place they can all call home.

One Part Sugar LLC
Director: Hart Bochner
Writer: Hart Bochner
Producers: Robin Bissell, Clifford Werber
I viewed 7/08

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