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A ten-year-old runaway boy named Gus has left behind an abusive home to go out on the road in a stolen ‘66 Ford Mustang that he drives with stilts attached to the gas pedals. His goal is to collect game cards from the Chimera Gas Company and if he spells M-O-T-O-R-A-M-A, he wins $500 million dollars.
The first person Gus meets on his journey — and the last — is Phil (John Diehl), a gas station attendant who flies a yellow kit with a photo of a cop (Robert Picardo) shaking hands with him, all to show whatever is in heaven that he's a worthwhile person.
The real thrill of watching this movie is in seeing who shows up next. From Martha Quinn as a bank teller and Jack Nance as a hotel clerk to Meat Loaf as an arm-wrestling biker, Mary Woronov as a kidnapper, Flea as a busboy, Robin Duke as a corporate drone, Allyce Beasley as a receptionist, Susan Tyrrell, Michael J. Pollards, Garett Morris, Drew Barrymore as the girl of our hero's dreams and, of course, Dick Miller — man, this movie has something for everyone. And by everyone, I mean me.
Director Barry Shils produced Vampire's Kiss and also made Wigstock: The Movie. Writer Joseph Minion wrote the aforementioned Vampire's Kiss and After Hours, as well as directing Daddy's Boys for Roger Corman, using the same sets as Big Bad Mama II.
This movie is great because it's a hijinks ensue film, but within the context of a child becoming an adult by undergoing a quest to determine what really means the most in life. It's not weird for weird's sake. It just feels like it was filmed in a place not quite our own and sent to the wrong reality, where we must study it and determine what we can learn from Gus's quest.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
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Yes, I actually watched this movie once upon a time. In some strange, twisted way the movie is interesting. While the acting is questionable in different parts, the effort is sincere and you are intrigued to see what happens with the boy. So it deserves some credit.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
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Audience Member
Motorama is a quirky, surreal, dark comedy adventure. I would have said it is a B movie, but it has so many recognizable faces from that era and (on closer look) the outdoor staging and props are often very nice and give the film a distinctive dreamlike quality. One gets the feeling that the people making it wanted to be making it. Many other movies came to mind while watching this: Repo Man, Naked Lunch, various Coen Brothers films. (And on a repeat view, the fiendish twinge of the comedy in Motorama also calls to mind the MASH movie.) If you enjoy the kind of weirdness which you can choose to make sense of or not, then give Motorama a view.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/15/23
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Motorama has a cool concept: a 10-year-old driving around trying to win the big bucks. It even goes out of its way to create its own states, providing a pretty confusing but interesting experience. But even though it has some positives, this is a road trip movie that ironically goes nowhere. Also, marketing tip: don't advertise Drew Barrymore if she's only in five seconds of your film. Audiences will hate you.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
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Audience Member
The road movie, Motorama, scripted by Joseph Minion (After Hours), is a symbolic journey through life. Our guide (and symbolic substitute) is ten-year-old Gus, played with assured competence by Jordan Christopher Michael. Gus escapes his ugly home life by stealing his dad's candy apple red Mustang and hits the road.
When he comes to a filling station we become aware of the strange and dream-like quality of the movie. A large sign above the gas station exclaims, "Be Ful-filled" and its attendant is Phil. Phil is flying a kite (tied off to a ceramic deer) while waiting to fill up cars that pull in. On the kite Phil has taped a photograph of him shaking hands with the local law officer and explains that he wants Him to see it up there, but fears that his kite string isn't long enough to get Him to see it.
It becomes evident that he is referring to God and that this movie isn't like many others. It also becomes evident that this will be an allegorical movie and being such, requires a reading as one interprets their dreams.
After learning about an old game called Motorama and that the grand prize is 500 million dollars, Gus desires to play and collect all of the Motorama cards. But when the law officer drives up to the station, Gus takes advantage of the distraction and steals a box of Motorama cards. This sends him on a symbolic road to hell and much of the rest of the film shows various stages and hellish encounters which test him in classical mythic tradition. We see the law officer as the Law and the cards compulsively collected as Desire, once eagerly sought after, become negligible once familiar.
There are many great cameo appearances by cult actors and actresses that film buffs will appreciate. The tone of Motorama bounces between dark, serious and whimsical camp (Jack Nance has an amusing part), but this is not a kid's movie. It grows episodic as Gus drives from filling station to filling station and meets various characters, but if you're interested in movies that aren't restricted by the usual Hollywood representation of 'reality' then you will enjoy the ride. We don't ask our dreams to be realistic, yet some reviewers of this film apparently assume that movies act real. For me, it's right up my alley. In the end we return to the point where Gus had a choice to make and his choice to become fulfilled.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
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Audience Member
Skeptical viewers may balk for whatever reason. A child star. Drew Barrymore. An uninformative, generic title. A silly, go-nowhere plot. But a quick scan of the cameos should at least allow for a seed of hope that this movie might be cool. John Deihl--Commissioner Gilroy from "The Shield", Jack Nance (nuff said), Dick Miller (previous cameos from Joe Dante's films like The Burbs and Gremlins should give one a good impression), and Flea. Now, I know there was a time when a Flea cameo became trite, but this is one of the good ones.
At any rate, the cameos are only a small part of the joys of this film. It boasts a base level of--get ready for it--optimistic cynicism that is both buoyant and desolate. I know that sounds like tripe, but it was a discernible sense that pervaded some of the best early 90's B movies. Remember, that was the era when "independent" actually meant something beside a bunch of navel-gazing hipsters talking about sex. This is similar to early Gus Van Sant, stuck in a blender with Alex Winter's Freaked, and more than a healthy dose of Adam Rifkin's screwball nihilism (The Chase, The Dark Backward).
In Motorama, misanthropy and youthful exuberance vie for the viewer's emotions, scenes are at turns whimsical, disturbing, and laugh out loud funny. I found myself admiring the concepts and the characters choices. Gus is without a doubt the smartest kid since Badger from Better Off Dead. Of course, he has to be. The opening scene, where we can hear his awful parents verbally abusing each other is harrowing, even by the morally devoid standards of the early 90's (and I say that in the best way). Gus's search, his quest is to find a sense of society, a sense of how people can get along without irony...it was something that it took our society at least a decade to accomplish, if that's even completely accurate.
At any rate, this is a fun, WTF movie with plenty of interesting aspects, certain to instill a sense of early 90's nostalgia and brighten your day. Highly recommended.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/08/23
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