Interstate 60 (2002)

Odd and insightful road movie fantasy with James Marsden, Gary Oldman and Christopher Lloyd “Interstate 60:Episodes from the Road” involves a confused college man, Neal Oliver (James Marsden), who wants to be an artist while his father pressures him to go to law school. He desperately wants answers and O.W. Grant (Gary Oldman) magically grants him his wish. Neal ends up on the non-existent I-60 traveling to the non-existent city of Danver where he hopes to meet his dream girl (Amy Smart). Along the way he meets many interesting people and learns several valuable lessons. Christopher Lloyd is also on hand along with glorified cameos by various notable actors (e.g. Michael J. Fox, Kurt Russell and Ann-Margret). The plot starts out a little tortuous, but it morphs into a road movie before too long, broken up into several quirky segments, which is why the flick is subtitled “Episodes from the Road.” Critics deride the picture on the grounds that the messages are clunky, moralistically naive, and preachy. But it’s unique and intelligent with quality reflections about life, which are made simple so “stupid people” or teens can grasp them. In short, this is a fairly entertaining oddball road fantasy that’s distinctive and insightful. If you like films like "Michael" (1996), "City of Angels" (1998), "Holy Man" (1998), "Bruce Almighty" (2003) and “Evan Almighty” (2007), “Highway 60” (2002) is cut from the same thematic cloth, except that the supernatural being is a magical Irishman. The movie runs 1 hour, 56 minutes and was shot in Ontario (Sunderland, Cannington and Toronto) and Arizona (Phoenix). GRADE: B