U-Turn

This is a knowing, sophisticate's view of film noir: mannered, heartless, kitsch.

In essence this is potboiler stuff. But it is a positive relief to find the director of Natural Born Killers in holiday mood.

Those who have learnt to distrust this director will hardly be surprised to learn that here is a film giving murder a bad name.

The best art of any age typically comes from the dysfunctional artist, and U-Turn is just that -- Stone's oddball glimpse into a shadow America that no one wants to believe exists but that undoubtedly does.

As the first Oliver Stone movie to gleefully dispense with sociopolitical significance, U-Turn is an overdue event, a chance for Stone to apply his hypnotic acid-trip-of-the-soul wizardry to something sexy and lowdown.

The stylistic fun Stone has in dramatizing this crime of passion thoroughly revitalizes the well-worked genre.

The more outsized the performances the more fun the film, and while Penn is refreshingly less mannered than usual, it's the scenery-chewers who carry the picture.

Filmmaker Oliver Stone has infused U Turn with exactly the sort of over-the-top, less-than-subtle vibe one might've anticipated...

With the exception of 1988's lacerating Talk Radio, U Turn might be the most forgotten film in Oliver Stone's canon -- a shame, since it offers sinful pleasures for those willing to take the ride.

It's a feast for the senses, as long as you have a strong stomach.