A quirky counterculture road picture, which is as aimless as its two protagonists, "Roadside Prophets" is never quite sure what it wants to be . . . but it's very sure what it doesn't want to be.
You'll find no run-of-the-mill, Hollywood happy-talk here. "Roadside Prophets" is a talky picture, full of goofy introspective ideas, but it has no intention of developing any of them. One suspects writer-director Abbe Wool ("Sid & Nancy") just hopes her intended audience - hip former hippies and young heavy-metal punks who can't hear their own thoughts anymore - will come along for the ride.Some of that ride is enjoyable, but it tends to wear out its welcome long before the film is over.
The lead role goes to John Doe, of the punk band X, who exhibits some lackadaisical charm as Joe, a disgruntled Los Angeles working stiff who has spent the past six years in a job he hates so he can pay his ex-wife alimony.
One day, as Joe heads out to the parking lot after work, he bumps into Dave (David Anthony Marshall), who has just had a rough first day on the job. They start a conversation, compare Harleys and ride off together for a drink at Joe's favorite bar.
Once they get there, Joe orders beers while Dave heads for a video machine - which promptly electrocutes him to death. Naturally, Joe wants to do the decent thing, so he has Dave cremated, puts the ashes in the gas tank of Dave's chopper and heads out to Nevada to dump them near Dave's favorite casino.
The trouble is, Joe can't remember the name of the Casino - and he has the town wrong too. So, he spends 90 percent of the movie looking for a Nevada city that doesn't exist.
Early on, Joe reluctantly links up with a goofy kid (Adam Horovitz, of the rap band, the Beastie Boys) who seems to be following him around, and who has an obsession with "Motel 9s." And when they hit the road together they run into one eccentric character after another, an opportunity for Arlo Guthrie, David Carradine, John Cusack, Timothy Leary and others to put in brief cameos.
"Roadside Prophets" has its moments, especially the bits by Guthrie and Cusack, who are gone almost before you realize who they are, and Doe demonstrates a natural acting ability as a disillusioned guy whose life is going nowhere.
But the film just meanders pointlessly and some scenes are embarrassingly amateurish in their staging. It's like a home movie in some ways, and it's really not sharp-witted enough to attract anything more than a cult audience.
"Roadside Prophets" is rated R for a fairly constant stream of profanity, some violence, a brief nude shot of a stripping on stage and implied sex.