Kalifornia (1993)

Director: Dominic Sena

Writers: Stephen Levy, Tim Metcalfe

Composer: Carter Burwell

Starring: David Duchovny, Michelle Forbes, Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A state of fear and terror

Plot: A journalist duo go on a tour of serial killer murder sites with two companions, unaware that one of them is a serial killer himself.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I've seen this twice now in twenty years and I had the same feeling about it now as then.  I LOVE Juliette Lewis in this.  She plays dumb trash unlike any other.  I've met people like her and it's scary how good she nails it.  Pitt is good, too, if even a little over the top sometimes.  It's Duchovny and Forbes that don't seem to hold up their end of the acting bargain as they're both sometimes pretty wooden.  At the very least their characters aren't nearly as interesting as Pitt and Lewis.  The film does do well with suspense and working the thriller angle.  It's most interesting before Early (Pitt) shows his true nature and the cat is out of the bag for Brian (Duchovny) and Carrie (Forbes).  I preferred the the first two acts.  That's probably because we the audience don't know everything about Early for a long while but we're sure as shit more informed than Brian and Carrie.  The plot device of B & C taking a road trip to visit famous serial killer kill sites is somewhat gimmicky but there's no escaping Pitt & Lewis's unpredictable and dangerous characters.  The ending is OK.  I really want to like this picture more but two hours of Duchovny and Forbes as close to bland as they were...it's hard to take.  And the thing is I've liked them both in other films/TV shows they've done.