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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Joy Ride
20th Century Fox Film Corporation
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence/terror and language
Starring
Steve Zahn,
Paul Walker,
Leelee Sobieski,
Matthew Kimbrough,
Jim Beaver,
and
Rachel Singer
A contemporary thriller that finds darkness laced with humor in the heartland of America. (20th Century Fox)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Clay Tarver
Jeffrey Abrams
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
John Dahl
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 12, 2002
Video: March 12, 2002
Theatrical: October 5, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
96 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Turns out to be the most unnerving film of the year. Easy.
90
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Climb into this rig and you'll be sweating bullets.
90
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
If you're looking to have your nerves fried and your pulse pounded, this is your ticket to ride.
90
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Terrific escapist fare, stylish, outrageous and compelling.
90
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Redoubtably hilarious as always, Zahn also lends his character unpredictable flashes of anger, pathos, and faint psychosis, even when the movie jumps the median from ticklishly discomfiting black comedy into by-the-numbers horror jolts.
88
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
A horror film that doesn't wear out a moment of its welcome.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
There is a kind of horror movie that plays so convincingly we don't realize it's an exercise in pure style. ''Halloween'' is an example, and John Dahl's Joy Ride is another.
88
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
The potential for action never lets up; you never know what's coming around the next corner.
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Skillfully crafted, flawlessly paced, intellectually challenging tension of classics like "Bad Day at Black Rock."
83
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Zigzags across the conventions of genre, occasionally driving on the shoulders of black humor -- it's a road movie for the way we process suspense today.
80
LA Weekly
F. X. Feeney
Director John Dahl ("Red Rock West," "The Last Seduction") has a pronounced knack for snap reversals and out-of-the-blue shocks.
80
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
The director, John Dahl, has no intention to baffle or obscure; his objective is to scare the living daylights out of you, or, more pertinently, the dying headlights.
80
Variety
Joe Leydon
Hot-wired, white-knuckle thriller.
80
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
The kicker is that Joy Ride is funny, too. In fact, it would be a superbly frightening entertainment if not for the way Dahl fixates, disturbingly, on sadistic details.
80
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
In noir, everybody's guilty, and that's one of the pleasures of Joy Ride. The three youngsters aren't exactly innocent.
75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
It's a snazzy, smartly made, and even hip little scarefest. As a jump-start to Halloween, it's all you could hope for.
75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Joy Ride is also surprisingly funny, thanks mostly to Zahn.
75
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
There's good pulp and bad pulp, and for most of its duration, Joy Ride is quality stuff.
75
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Joy Ride is plenty spooky but there's also plenty of comic relief -- mostly from the perennially goofy Zahn.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A really satisfying suspenser, but also really, really fun.
75
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Some of the plot twists don't really stand up to close scrutiny, but the sometimes over-the-top Joy Ride plows through them with such joyful glee, you don't really care.
70
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
There's plenty of scary pleasure to be had from this clever, compact thriller.
70
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Much more effectively terrifying than the usual overplotted, underwritten Hollywood thriller.
70
New Times (L.A.)
Gregory Weinkauf
Manages to be both astoundingly derivative and reasonably entertaining at the same time.
63
USA Today
Mike Clark
Even at its best, Ride never survives its shaky opening hook.
60
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
At some point in this endless thriller the suspense turns into an extremely unpleasant ordeal that Dahl doesn't know when to stop.
60
Mr. Showbiz
Michael Atkinson
Pure, irrational, claustrophobic, gritty, unpretentious.
60
Film Threat
Heather Wadowski
Despite its few flaws, Joy Ride does take viewers on one hell of a ride. It's one of those rare films that manages to take an overused plot and breathe some sort of creativity into it.
60
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The sequel-ready twist at the end is a letdown, but until then this is a neatly constructed nail-biter.
50
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Dahl, who really does know what he's doing when it comes to investing a scene with both heebies and jeebies, is a notch or two above most.
42
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
The picture is pinched and predictable. Even with the immensely talented Steve Zahn, an actor who's known to steal scenes and, sometimes, save pictures, the movie is a yawn.
 The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 44 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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