The term “Box-office Bomb” has been thrown around recently due to noticeable summer flops like this year’s “Lone Ranger”. People typically throw this term around to refer to a poorly received movie, but it is more often than not incorrect. However, financial disappointments can even happen to good movies like the now cult classic “The Iron Giant”. This can happen because of bad word of mouth or lack of advertising. The list of these bombs goes on, but there is one flop that is probably the most infamous of all time.
With a budget of two million dollars, the movie “Zyzzyx Road” made back $30, that’s it. The story goes that the distributor only allowed it to run for a week with screen times at noon. The distributor didn’t want to show it in the U.S. until it ran in the foreign market, however the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) forces the other way around. When all is said and done, is it really deserving of a second look and maybe a little more money? Not really.
“Zyzzyz Road” is about an accountant named Grant (Leo Grillo) along with his one night stand Marissa (Katherine Heigl) trying to bury Marissa’s ex Joey (Tom Sizemore). Grant didn’t do a good enough job of killing Joey and he escapes the trunk and seeks revenge. However once Grant meets with Joey face-to-face things don’t turn out as they seem. This is a very weird movie in its concept, execution, and acting. It feels like what would happen if Tommy Wiseau tried to make a Quentin Tarintino film.
The acting is very, very wooden, especially coming from Leo Grillo, as he seems to have the same reaction if he’s been shot or he found a hair in his soup. He didn’t even try to emote for some of the scenes, and it seems that additional recordings were needed for one scene, and the actor they got for the additional recordings sounds like Elmer Fudd without a speech impediment.
Katherine Heigl does a more decent job but she’s still pretty bland. She seems to flip flop on a dime on what her personality should be, especially near the end of the film where she changes to a stock female horror villain. Tom Sizemore doesn’t really do much in the movie, but he’s pretty dull as well.
The concept of a broken down accountant getting in over his head for his escapes are interesting. In fact, it’s said that Marissa isn’t all that she seems to be but it’s really him that isn’t all that he seems. It’s an interesting concept but they leave open plot holes that really didn’t need to be opened, like when Marissa gets bitten by a snake but is fine the next day. This is never explained.
It should be known that this movie tried to be both serious and comedic, and it’s very jarring. This could have been a really funny comedy, poking fun at the desert setting and the structure of these kinds of movies. However the jokes aren’t delivered well, since Leo Grillo has a knack for killing jokes with the proficiency of a skilled hunter. This could have been a really interesting movie but as is it’s really dull.
No one’s life is going to be enriched for seeing or not seeing this film. I feel that the six people who saw this movie might have overpaid for seeing it in its original run. You don’t really need to track this down as it is a dull film that tried doing more than it could. Go watch “The Iron Giant”, that’s an underrated film that deserves to be seen.