20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong Turn At Tahoe, December 24, 2009
When crime boss Vincent (Miguel Ferrer) finds out a low level drug dealer, Frankie Tahoe (Noel Gugliemi), plans to take him out, he takes his son-like protege Joshua (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to take care of the problem. He soon finds out that the drug dealer actually works for the biggest mob boss in town, Nino (Harvey Keitel), who expects payment for the revenue lost from Tahoe's drug stream.
I like Cuba Gooding Jr. He's a good actor who deserves a good break, and could very easily be the next Denzel Washington if he picked better projects. After all, one day he was in Jerry Maguire and Men of Honor, the next day he was sinking his career with Boat Trip. One can't help but wonder what happened and wish for the good old days, I mean, honestly, he was the one reason to rewatch Pearl Harbor! Recently, though, he's been relegated to straight to DVD releases, his most recent foray to the big screen being the excellent American Gangster. With his newest release though he's found himself in good company with Miguel Ferrer (Crossing Jordan, The Stand, etc.) and Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction, Red Dragon, etc.). But even with this kind of talent does the movie sink, or does it float?
Wrong Turn at Tahoe is not a bad movie, but there's a reason why it's released on DVD. It's like anything else you've seen, only a mix of it all. The beginning of the movie reminded me of Reservoir Dogs (a movie Keitel starred in), and right after that there's a scene that reminds me of Pulp Fiction, followed by a scene that reminded me of Conspiracy Theory. They even recite the story of The Scorpion and The Frog made famous by The Crying Game. To add to that the direction doesn't add anything new to the proceedings, it looks like a mix of the Bourne Trinity and something that Tarantino would direct if he used slightly shaky cam. On top of that the dialogue is clunky at points, particularly the underwritten lines given to Harvey Keitel (which is very unfortunate considering that he's almost like a national treasure).
The one thing that really separates this film from other straight to DVD films is the acting. Cuba Gooding Jr. gives all of his roles, even the worst ones his all. Here, he's given a little more to work with than usual. He's actually given a lot of good lines, and plays a character not too far removed from Jules Winnfield in the existential department. Miguel Ferrer is given most of the great lines, though, and handles them with amazing ease, showing you the light and dark side of his character. Ferrer definitely is the winner in this movie with Cuba as a close second. Keitel comes off as the loser, only because he's given the worst lines in the movie by far, he makes the most of them that he can, but for the most part it looks like he's just going with the flow rather than influencing it.
All in all I'd recommend it for a one time viewing, but chances are you'll forget it after that. You definitely get sucked up in the proceedings, but after you're done you're more likely to look for something else to do rather than talk about the movie. As always, a couple of things to think about before you watch it with the kiddie: there's a scene of sex (nothing more than you'd see in a TV show on FX though), and there's a bit of violence and one scene of gore, which will be the one thing that really sticks with you when the movie's over because it actually looks very real. Other than that check it out for a fun movie to waste your time while your looking for the next fun thing to do, but don't expect anything that really sticks with you.
3/5
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly not bad, February 11, 2010
What is this you say, a Cuba Gooding Jr-starring straight to DVD film that actually isn't bad? That's what you get with Wrong Turn at Tahoe, in which Gooding stars as Joshua, the protege of small time crime boss Vincent (Miguel Ferrer). When Vincent kills drug dealer Frankie Tahoe (Noel Gugliemi) without realizing that he works for uber-crime lord Nino (Harvey Keitel), the blood and bullets start to fly. No holds barred in its violence, Wrong Turn at Tahoe is pretty much a pastiche of every better crime movie to come before it. That aside though, the film works thanks to its stars, and Gooding definitely gives the best performance probably since Men of Honor. The real surprise here however is Ferrer, who's appeared in everything from Robocop to Traffic to Crossing Jordan over the years, and here's hoping that he gets more leading roles down the line.
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