WAKING UP IN RENO

(director: Jordan Brady; screenwriters: Brent Briscoe/Mark Fauser; cinematographer: William A. Fraker; editor: Lisa Zeno Churgin; music: Marty Stuart; cast: Charlize Theron(Candy Kirkendall), Patrick Swayze (Roy Kirkendall), Billy Bob Thornton (Lonnie Earl Dodd, Natasha Richardson(Darlene Dodd), Holmes Osborne(Doc Tuley); Runtime: 91; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Ben Myron/Dwight Yoakam/Robert Salerno; Miramax; 2002)

“A redneck romantic comedy about marital infidelity, that is crude and unfunny.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A redneck romantic comedy about marital infidelity, that is crude and unfunny. Director Jordan Brady (“The Third Wheel”/”I Am Comic”) helms a misfire. The weak script is by longtime screenwriting partners/actors Brent Briscoe and Mark Fauser, who have small parts. It’s a poor imitation of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). Small town Arkansas residents, the slimy used-car dealer Lonnie Earl (Billy Bob Thornton) and his wife Darlene (Natasha Richardson), along with Lonnie’s easy-going dimwitted best friend Roy (Patrick Swayze) and his hottie wife Candy (Charlize Theron), go together in a new SUV to a monster truck rally in Reno, Nevada. En route to Reno, Roy learns he can’t have children, and he also discovers Lonnie has knocked-up his wife. This leads to tensions on their marriages.

REVIEWED ON 8/2/2017 GRADE: C+    https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/