Desert Blue

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Desert Blue
Desert blue.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Morgan J. Freeman
Written byMorgan J. Freeman
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Enrique Chediak
Edited bySabine Hoffmann
Music by Vytas Nagisetty
Distributed by Franchise Pictures
Release date
  • September 12, 1998 (1998-09-12)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Desert Blue is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Morgan J. Freeman, starring Brendan Sexton III, Kate Hudson, Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Sara Gilbert and John Heard. [1]

Contents

Plot

A rising Hollywood starlet becomes "marooned" in a small desert town while on a roadtrip with her father. There, she gets to know the town's rather eccentric residents, including one whose hobby is pipe bombs and another who is trying to carry out his father's dream of building a waterpark in the desert.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features songs by The Candyskins, Rilo Kiley, Janis Ian, and others.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, review aggregator, reports that 37% of 19 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5/10. [2] Glenn Lovell of Variety called it "a cloying, mechanically plotted comedy". [3] Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times wrote, "The graceful literary and directorial touch of Morgan J. Freeman turns these youngsters into individuals rather than cinema's customary caricatures". [1] John Anderson of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "It's a small story, perhaps even an ephemeral movie, but Desert Blue also has a novelistic capacity for character and setting, without either the maudlin sentimentality or gratuitous vulgarity of most teen-oriented movies." [4] Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times rated it three out of four stars and compared it to The Last Picture Show and U Turn , saying that it is the "herbal tea" version of the latter. [5] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of C and described the setting as "yet another indie drama set in a burg reminiscent, by way of aggressive eccentricity, of TV's Northern Exposure ." [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 Van Gelder, Lawrence (June 4, 1999). "Desert Blue (1998)". The New York Times . Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  2. "Desert Blue (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  3. Lovell, Glenn (September 18, 1998). "Review: 'Desert Blue'". Variety . Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  4. Anderson, John (June 18, 1999). "Seductive 'Desert' Takes a Charming Slap at Reality". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  5. Ebert, Roger (September 10, 1999). "Desert Blue". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  6. Schwarzbaum, Lisa (June 18, 1999). "Desert Blue (1999)". Entertainment Weekly (490). Archived from the original on February 23, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2015.