TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES NM
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
I cannot recall how many "thrillers" I have seen these past several months whose premise is that an ex-con vows never again to get in trouble and again end up in the slammer . . . but who will do just one more heist so he will have enough money to start anew and live happily ever after. Two that come immediately to mind are Absolute Power with the jewel thief played by Clint Eastwood and City of Industry with Timothy Hutton wanting one more robbery before he quits for good... something invariably goes awry as it does in TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES NM.
It could be forgiven if the story then takes off on a new tack that is both entertaining and original. This one is neither because much of the writing is bad and the actors have to do and say some pretty ridiculous things. Even as a thriller, it is full of holes. When Raymond (Vincent Gallo) hides out at his brother's house his brother throws an object from the living room through a window into the yard. When asked why he did that, he says "So if the cops come I can show them the smashed window and say someone broke in." When someone breaks IN, the shattered glass will be INSIDE the house as will be whatever is thrown from the outside to break the window. I'm hardly a Sherlock Holmes but even a rank amateur knows that much . . . or so one would imagine.
Ray is a small-time crook who took a rap for a friend. When he is released from jail after having served his time he is met by Addy (Kim Dickens), the woman he loves. Ray gets a job with the one for whom he went to jail but it is a rotten job certainly not commensurate with what Ray thinks is his due for serving time when he was innocent. With no money Ray is determined to do one more job so he and Addy can live happily ever after. Sound familiar?
Ray connects with Curtis (Kiefer Sutherland), a former cell mate who is a trigger-happy cold fish who kills with slight or no provocation. There is a third partner, Marcus (Mykelti Williamson . . . the crab fisherman in FORREST GUMP). The plan is to rob the shop where Ray had been working, take the cash he now feels is rightfully his, and then make their getaway. No one will be at the shop when they break in. Addy will be the driver; if he says it is safe, she tells Ray, she knows it is safe. In and out of the shop quickly and then freedom for Ray and Addy. Here comes the "awry" part.
When they break into the shop there is the owner and another man. Neither was supposed to be there. At the first balking by the owner, Curtis takes out his guns and kills both him and the other man who just happens to be an undercover cop. All of this is recorded on the hidden camera and on the tape recorder the cop was wearing under his jacket. Ray is furious. "No killing!" but Curtis explains that all that was before they found the two in the shop. Now they have to make a getaway before the whole police force gets after them for having shot a fellow officer.
When their car begins to smoke and smoke being bad for your health, they decide they have to change cars and when they see a couple sitting on a grassy spot off the road, they take them hostage while using the couple's motor home and ditch their old car. Curtis was going to kill the man and woman, Gordon and Donna (Kevin Pollack and Grace Phillips) but cooler heads prevail and they are merely taken hostage.
This is when the film gets rather silly. While riding in the camper, Gordon is watching Jeopardy on TV and he is pretty close in his answers but Ray is exactly right. Two very bright guys; the hostage and the hood. Little by little (if you can believe this) Gordon, despite Donna's amazed protests, is beginning to take a liking to the hoods and even their guns and their lifestyle. Kind of stretches things a bit I would say.
Rod Steiger has a cameo as a Las Vegas casino owner and drug dealer while Martin Sheen is some kind of hit man (who wants to be called "Sir.") who knows no mercy so no one will ever want to thwart him.
The title refers to the quaint name of a real town in New Mexico.
Directed by Kiefer Sutherland
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Ben Hoffman
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