Main Cast: Drew Barrymore, Luke Wilson, Catherine O'Hara, Jake Busey, Shelley Duvall
Release Year: 1998
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Dean Parisot, who won a live-action short Oscar, made his feature directorial debut with this black comedy from a producer team that included Barry Levinson and Lawrence Kasdan. A philandering stepdad is the victim of vengeful Mrs. Lever (Catherine O'Hara), who sends her sons out to scare him to death. Cobra helicopter pilots Dorian (Luke Wilson) and Angus (Jake Busey) accomplish this by strafing the forest at night as the stepdad runs in terror. No one knows that pregnant Burger-Matic cashier Sally (Drew Barrymore) was the stepdad's mistress. However, since Burger-Matic and Cobra headsets share the same radio frequency, the notion surfaces that maybe Burger-Matic workers overheard something; Angus suggests that Dorian take a job at the fast-food joint in order to determine just who knows what. Once on the job, however, the situation gets twisted after Dorian falls hard for Sally. The chain-smoking Mrs. Jackson (Shelley Duvall), Sally's trailer-trash mother, turns up, as does her redneck father, Red (Lanny Flaherty). In an inside film reference, Angus mentions the classic "Lamb to the Slaughter" episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Dean Parisot's Home Fries captures all the quirkiness of Vince Gilligan's darkly comic screenplay while smartly letting the actors charm the audience. Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson (who ended up dating during and after the making of the film) play characters whose actions should make them less than palatable to the audience, but their warmth and essential goodness win out. The director and the actors like these characters, and that gives the audience the opportunity to root for them while also ruefully accepting their less ingratiating aspects. Though the comedy may occasionally become too broad, the lead performers keep everything in check. Jake Busey, Catherine O'Hara, and Shelley Duvall all provide solid support for Barrymore and Wilson who, along with the filmmakers, manage to fashion a romantic comedy populated with characters who are both original and endearing. Home Fries is certainly slight, but its novelty keeps it interesting. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Kim Robillard - Billy; Daryl Mitchell - Roy; Lanny Flaherty - Red; Chris Ellis - Henry Lever; Blue Deckert - Sheriff
Credit
Phil Dagort - Art Director, Susann Jones - Associate Producer, Debra Zane - Casting, Jill Greenberg Sands - Casting, Jill M. Ohanneson - Costume Designer, Michael Waxman - First Assistant Director, Dean Parisot - Director, Nicholas C. Smith - Editor, Romi Lassally - Executive Producer, Rachel Portman - Composer (Music Score), Barry Robison - Production Designer, Jerzy Zielinski - Cinematographer, Mark Johnson - Producer, Lawrence Kasdan - Producer, Barry Levinson - Producer, Charles James Newirth - Producer, Andrew Menzies - Set Designer, Jennifer Murphy - Sound/Sound Designer, Vince Gilligan - Screenwriter
The film is about a young pregnant fastfood worker Sally Jackson (Drew Barrymore), who unwittingly falls in love with Dorian Montier (Luke Wilson), the stepson of her baby's father, Henry Lever (Chris Ellis). After Dorian and his brother Angus (Jake Busey) kill their stepfather by scaring him to death for cheating on their mother, Beatrice Lever (Catherine O'Hara), they go seek the woman that their stepfather was cheating with. In their search, Sally and Dorian fall in love while Dorian gets a job at Burger-Matic (the fast food place near the killing site). Both Dorian and Sally take a day off from work to go to the funeral, and Dorian spots Sally there. Dorian is faced with dealing with his feelings for Sally and his mother and brother's homicidal desires of revenge.
