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Jared Leto, Jake Gyllenhaal, Selma Blair, John C. McGinley, Jeremy Piven ... see more see more... , Arden Myrin , Danny Comden , Kimberley Kates , Mark Rolston , Stephen Shellen

Two friends hit the road to escape some homicidal gangsters with a score to settle in this angsty Gen-X flick set against the backdrop of the mid-'90s grunge music scene. Highway opens with its mohawk... read more read more...ed post-teen hero Jack (Jared Leto), up to his usual routine: smoking pot, cleaning pools, and engaging in vigorous sex with a mobster's wife. It isn't long before vengeful thugs come calling to his Las Vegas trailer-park home, however, and Jack has to flee town with his drug-dealing best buddy, Pilot (Jake Gyllenhaal). The two decide to travel to Seattle -- in the week preceding Kurt Cobain's suicide -- and along the way they encounter a succession of drifters, losers, and hangers-on, including a sweet-hearted prostitute named Cassie (Selma Blair). Highway's working title was "A Leonard Cohen Afterworld," a reference to a lyric from Kurt Cobain's song "Pennyroyal Tea"; the film was written by Scott Rosenberg, who previously made a name for himself with Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Beautiful Girls, and Con Air. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Flixster Users

66% liked it

8,635 ratings

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Directed by: James Cox

Release Date: January 1, 2001

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DVD Release Date: March 26, 2002

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Stats: 452 reviews

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Kimberley Kates & Jared Leto Jared Leto & Kimberley Kates John C. McGinley Selma Blair & Jared Leto Selma Blair Selma Blair & Jared Leto Selma Blair & Jared Leto Jake Gyllenhaal Jake Gyllenhaal & Arden Myrin Jared Leto & Kimberley Kates Jared Leto & Kimberley Kates Selma Blair & Jared Leto Jeremy Piven Jeremy Piven Jack Kerouac
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Flixster Reviews (452)

  • dreamfaeries
    July 9, 2010
    dreamfaeries
    Eh...
  • LoughnerWasLucid
    December 7, 2009
    LoughnerWasLucid
    dumb?
  • deano
    August 3, 2008
    deano
    Cool road trip drama stars Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal as two best friends who find themselves on the run from the mob.
  • Deano78
    December 24, 2007
    Deano78
    A pretty good road trip movie with some bizarre things happening along the way.
  • crossbladezero
    October 13, 2011
    crossbladezero
    Genius casting to get Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal as two punk rockhead druggies. I know when I think of cool punkhead, I think of "30 Seconds to Mars"- I mean of Jared Leto getting his face smashed in my Ed Nort-I mean, of Jared Leto almost getting set on fire by Jodie Fost-I ... read moremean, of Jared Leto getting hacked up by Christian Bale. ...Okay, that's as flattering as we're gonna get, so let's go with that, but seriously though, Leto has certainly gained experience in that slick campy acting department, as well as the druggy acting department, and the same can be said about Jake Gyllenhaal, who earned his campy charm in "Bubble Boy" and experience with drugs. Why do think he was in "Bubble Boy" in the first place? No, but seriously though, Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal are both excellent performers that are arguably among today's greats, partially because they're so charismatic. Here, they sadly don't get to play up their talent until the end, but they get plenty of material to play up the charisma to deliver on some fun and crackling chemistry. After all, this is an indie film and indie films, no matter how stylistically crafted, is almost always all about the characters, but really, that's among the handful of conventions in the indie genre this film follows, for unlike most indie films, this lacks pretense, but then again, that's mostly because it's not quite smart enough to have the right to hold itself in such high regard.

    Now, this film isn't totally incompetent, but it's not the sharpest tool in the shed, mostly because it's so unoriginal. It's almost as if it wants to be another "Big Lebowski", but it tries too hard and takes too much material from other sources that its obnoxiousness, obscenity overusage and long scenes of just frat joke, after frat joke, after frat joke come off as a little dumb, and it doesn't help that this film feels like a random string of events enough as it is. Oh, did I forget to mention that this film is obnixious? No? Well, actually, I may as well have, because just mentioning it isn't enough to fully describe how annoying this thing gets. The film gets to be overwhelming, partially because of its extreme and frequent bursts of overly grotesque obscenities, but mostly because it has a great style, but doesn't know how to pull back on that, leaving it to be more overstylized than a fan music video by some teen geek who just a hold of "Sony Vegas". It's dizzyingly overedited, with overbearingly music cues, overloud sound design, overly gratuitously random imagery and overall overlong stylizing segments that don't surprisingly don't cause any extensive harm to the storyline, but still has you numb by the frantic direction.

    The film is so ridiculously stylistic, but really, who can blame the filmmakers for overstylizing? Okay, well, the style is so overdone that I guess they're past redemption, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't just blowing smoke when I called the style great, overwhelmingly overused though, it may be. The slickly-manipulated use of sound design pulls you into the environment and cinematography is very lively, cool and adds an extra snap to the extreme quick edits. Really, what the style tries to do is establish snap and entertainment value, and although the film overdoes it like you wouldn't believe, the style is still so snappy that no matter how overwhelming it is, it stays consistently effective, quickening the pace and liveliness of this ridiculously obscene, but delightfully extreme dialogue to where it eventually gets to you, provokes a smile, then a laugh, then a belly laugh, then annoyance, because it goes on too long. Still, before you know it, they hit you with another effective quick joke, in spite of overstylizing, mostly because the delivery is so sharp. The film is undeniably charming, boasting fine chemistry and sharp charisma all throughout the cast, even if there are a fair share of overactors in the bunch. Still, this is the show of Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal, and they own it with charisma and chemistry that burns brighter than anyone else's, allowing them to carry the film through all of its faults and make as generally enjoyable as it is.

    At the end of the trip, the storyline is familiar, when not thrown-together and the frantic style is overly prominent to a painful extent, but thanks to the style being just so snappy - in spite of the overusage - and constant charm summoned by the wide cast of sharp charismas, - headed by the always solid Jared Leto and Jake Gyllenhaal - the extreme slippery-slope of mess that is "Highway" remains a generally fun ride, if you can handle the style storm.

    2.5/5 - Fair
  • danieljparsons
    May 21, 2007
    danieljparsons
    "When you think about it, the world is divided into two groups - pandas and alligator boys."

    Set in 1994, the year Kurt Cobain took his own life, Highway is a slacker/road trip movie, or, as some people like to put it "a film where nothing happens" (which is stri

    ... read morectly not true). Jack (Jared Leto), an early twenty-something pool cleaner gets caught in the act with a mobster's woman. Fearing for his life, he flees his hometown of Las Vegas, convincing his best friend Pilot (Jake Gyllenhaal) to come with him. Pilot, a drug-dealer and life-guard by trade, suggests they go to Seattle as he says it's a safe place to escape to, though he has motivations of his own for going there. Along the way, they have some strange encounters and pick up the homeless Cassie (Selma Blair), who Jack is soon drawn to.

    Director James Cox (Wonderland) infuses the film with an offbeat energy; there's some great nervey camerawork to some of the 'trip' scenes and unusual, sparingly used lighting and video effects. Writer Scott Rosenberg (Beautiful Girls) seems to have written the thing pretty much in one sitting without too much concern for plot progression or an 'arc', but this makes for a refreshing change. Some scenes don't work, and the "The Boy" subplot isn't especially successful, but the brisk pace and energetic performances moves things along.

    There's definitely a homoerotic undercurrent between Pilot & Jack, which a braver film might have followed through (only Cassie seems to acknowledge it, at one point saying, "are you guys like in love or something?"). Unfortunately we instead get an ending, at least for Pilot, which isn't wholly satisfactory. Nevertheless, this an original, enjoyable film.
  • michaelcorleone
    February 19, 2007
    michaelcorleone
    This super-frantic but ultimately empty film wastes the talents of a few gifted young actors on a screenplay that leads nowhere. Great performances by Leto and Gyllenhaal, but there's little else to be satisfied with.
  • kraney
    June 26, 2010
    kraney
    a pretty good movie but I hate all the drug and sex references. I mean really, I know it's rated R but still, who needs to hear that? Two great actors (Jake Gyllenhaal and Jared Leto) in a great movie(except for what I mentioned above)
  • kielhunt1
    December 12, 2008
    kielhunt1
    Awsome cast and great dialogue. Music is okay but the camera angles along with the lighting is excellent! A lot of sex driven scenes and scenarios! Very funny at times! A should see movie!
  • sykora259517
    July 22, 2008
    sykora259517
    Mmm jared w/ no shirt! was cool. never heard of this & don't remmeber seeing ads for the tehater or tv! but a cool find

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Critic Reviews

Rob Gonsalves
September 17, 2007
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

Aggressively overdirected, with lots of 'Look how cool this angle is' and 'See how tricky my editing is.' Full Review

Ryan Cracknell
January 16, 2003
Ryan Cracknell, Apollo Guide

Ahead of its time, but not in a flattering way. Full Review

Christopher Null
March 20, 2002
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

Doesn't have many guts. Full Review

Stephen Hunter
September 5, 2003
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

No review available.

Emanuel Levy
July 30, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

January 15, 2003
AV Club

No review available.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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