MOTORAMA
A film review by Gerald Edgar
Copyright 1993 Gerald Edgar
I rented the movie MOTORAMA by pure coincidence. I am glad I did.
MOTORAMA is a 1991 comedy written by Joseph Minion and directed by Barry Shils. It is such a charming little movie, I wonder why I had never heard of it before.
The star is Jordan Christopher Michael as Gus, a ten-year-old on the road. (His previous credits are two made-for-TV movies.) We see Gus's (dare I say it?) quirky adventures as he travels. But where is it? It seems (at first) to be the western rural USA (it was filmed in California and Arizona); but after a while we see from the details that it is not. Maybe it is some future time, or some alternate USA, or perhaps just some generic place dreamed up for the movie. It might be interesting to take the states Gus visits, and see if they can be identified as corresponding to real places.
Many of the small roles, people Gus meets along the way, are played by well-known actors, including: Drew Barrymore, Dick Miller, Vince Edwards (as a doctor of course), Michael J. Pollard, Jack Nance, Charles Tyner, and Robert Picardo. But don't get the movie to see these actors, because each of them is only briefly on screen. Writer Joseph Minion's previous film AFTER HOURS is also quirky in its own way, but I liked MOROTRAMA much more.
Unexpected things happen to Gus along the way. The ending is a bit peculiar, and it left me smiling, wanting to see more. If you like strange movies, try this one. MOTORAMA is rated R, presumably for language: the sex and violence could be easily PG-13.
-- Gerald A. Edgar Internet: edgar@math.ohio-state.edu Department of Mathematics Bitnet: EDGAR@OHSTPY
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