`SWITCHBACK' LITTLE MORE THAN MANY MILES OF BAD ROAD.Byline: Robert Philpot Fort Worth Star-Telegram The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is a major U.S. daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. Its area of domination is checked by its main rival, The Dallas Morning News You'd think something that calls itself ``SwitchBack'' would be more careful about making wrong turns. But the movie goes awry quickly, with your standard false-alarm scene. You know the one: A vulnerable person (say, a female baby sitter) goes around a dark house, checking on some creepy noise outside, and something innocuous (say, a cat) comes out of the shadows. She jumps, we jump, we're relieved for a sec and then - bam! - the real killer strikes. At the beginning of ``Scream,'' Wes Craven played a similar scene like a symphony, conducting poor Drew Barrymore into a crescendo of fright. At the beginning of ``SwitchBack switch·back n. 1. A road, trail, or railroad track that follows a zigzag course on a steep incline. 2. A sharp bend in a road or trail on a steep incline. 3. Chiefly British A roller coaster. ,'' director Jeb Stuart plays it like ``Chopsticks'' - it's unchallenging, and it's been done a million times. And before the opening credits Opening credits, in a television program, motion picture or videogame, are shown at the beginning of a show and list the most important members of the production. They are usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the finish rolling, we know we're in trouble again as we meet your standard good ol' boy sheriff (R. Lee Ermey) and your standard smarmy police chief (William Fichtner William Edward "Bill" Fichtner (born November 27, 1956 in East Meadow, New York) is an American actor. He is often credited as William Fichtner and occasionally as Bill Fichtner. ). They have a problem: Three bloody bodies have been found in a local motel room. Or, rather, the lawmen have an opportunity, because they're locked in your standard political battle, and apparently whoever solves the case wins. Along comes your standard dour FBI agent who knows more than the hicks Hicks , Edward 1780-1849. American painter of primitive works, notably The Peaceable Kingdom, of which nearly 100 versions exist. (Dennis Quaid). The smarmy police chief, not up on his cliches, doesn't buy what the FBI agent is selling, and he charges the wrong guy with the murders. The good ol' boy sheriff has done his homework, and he works with the agent to find the real killer. Meanwhile - oh, did you think we were finished? - a medical-school dropout (1) On magnetic media, a bit that has lost its strength due to a surface defect or recording malfunction. If the bit is in an audio or video file, it might be detected by the error correction circuitry and either corrected or not, but if not, it is often not noticed by the human (Jared Leto Jared Joseph Leto (born December 26, 1971) is an American actor and musician. His first major acting performance was as Jordan Catalano in the television series My So-Called Life. ) hitches a desert ride with an eccentric but jovial (Jules' Own Version of the International Algebraic Language) An ALGOL-like programming language developed by Systems Development Corp. in the early 1960s and widely used in the military. Its key architect was Jules Schwartz. cowboy-type driver (Danny Glover). The dropout suspects something's amiss, but the driver earns his trust with a bar-fight rescue. (Someday, a Southwest Anti-Defamation League Anti-Defamation League B’nai B’rith organization which fights anti-Semitism. [Am. Hist.: Wigoder, 33] See : Anti-Semitism will form just to protest these scenes where the locals pick on an outsider just 'cause he ain't from 'round there.) It's hard to believe that this amalgam of cliches, stock characters and convoluted logic came from Jeb Stuart, who wrote ``The Fugitive,'' one of the best TV-to-screen adaptations. Stuart directs this time, competently enough, with a decent car-on-a-ledge scene and a not-bad climactic cli·mac·tic also cli·mac·ti·cal adj. Relating to or constituting a climax. cli·mac  ti·cal·ly adv.Adj. 1. battle aboard a train. But this script! Even if you could forgive its by-the-numbers plot, you'd still have to deal with some howlingly bad dialogue and suspend your disbelief until the middle of next week to buy the bad guy's plan, which involves the good guy acting exactly as expected. Stuart wrote the script while at Stanford in the mid-'80s, and it's possible that he meant it to be a joke. If he did, he forgot to tell some of his actors. Glover appears to be having a good time, and Ermey actually takes a trite character and gives him some former-drill-sergeant bite. But Leto just looks like a deer caught in the headlights, and Quaid, who's best when he's having fun as in ``The Big Easy,'' takes on a one-note glower, barely cracking a smile. Dennis! You're married to Meg Ryan! Lighten up! THE FACTS The film: ``SwitchBack'' (R; violence, language). The stars: Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, Jared Leto and R. Lee Ermey. Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Jeb Stuart. Produced by Gale Hurd. Released by Paramount Pictures. Running time: One hour, 58 minutes. Playing: Citywide. Our rating: One Star. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Dennis Quaid's FBI agent tries to solve a murder in ``SwitchBack.'' |
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