It may be of some significance to note that the front of the box boasts "From the Academy Award Winning Co-Writer of Pulp Fiction", which is a white lie as it only boasts Roger Avary as executive producer. But writer/director Craig Hamann does come out of the same group that Tarantino did, which was the Video Archives store that they all worked at, and in the mid 80's Hamann and Tarantino collaborated on the aborted feature-film project My Best Friends Birthday. So while Boogie Boy may appear to be a very pale knockoff of something from the Tarantino-verse (drug deal gone bad, bad-looking hit-men, some friendship stuff gone awry, weird supporting characters),it would seem to be more natural a thing to come out of Hamann than just cashing in. It was his feature film debut as director, and he probably carried some of those memories from the days of watching genre movies with the likes of Tarantino and Avary.

Sadly, Hamann's career didn't even turn out as good as Avary's much less Tarantino's, and after Boogie Boy Hamann's credits are basically non-existent. Maybe something happened during this production, or perhaps due to the lack of actual distribution (it's a straight-to-video looking thing right from the cover, and the eighteen minutes of previews on the VHS tape I saw confirm its uber-B-movieness). It isn't a completely bad premise, just a little tired: a guy gets out of prison, meets up with his old buddy from the inside (the two watched each others back to make sure neither was raped or beat up too bad),but the old buddy is a heroin addict, the other guy is clean and wants to move on to be a drummer after an impromptu performance in Joan Jett's band (yeah, she's not named Joan Jett, but she basically plays herself).

As it turns out though, Jesse goes along with Larry reluctantly on a drug deal, which goes bad and Jesse has to take out the baddie druggers. Jesse and Larry go on the run and hide out at some desert motel with two deadbeat weirdos (one of whom very strangely, though not funny-strange, by Frederic Forrest). That's the premise the movie rests on, and it's not very original. And for a film like this, it asks to have some strong characters, or just people that might be striking or different or have some kind of conflict that can resonate. Jesse and Larry, as played by Mark Dacascos and Jaimz Woolvett, don't really progress much from start to finish: Jesse leaves the high-and-mighty rehabilitated prisoner (albeit rather agile killer if need be, like a drummer ninja),and Larry leaves still a burnt-out-dead-end druggie. As for other characters, they either turn up dead or just... I don't know.

The characters aren't developed much past their initial impressions, and the dialog, while competently written and on occasion clever and witty, doesn't come anywhere near to the standard that Hamann's former Video Archives buddies could come up with. It carries some powerful scenes in fits and starts, but just when it looks like the actors (mostly Woolvett as Badascos is really stiff) could carry it somewhere else interesting, it stalls into formula, or weird asides with Frederic Forrest who looks like he just wanted some time in the sun (he only has one halfway convincing scene towards the end when he talks about how he came across a bunch of money).

And yet, for all of the faults in the film, mostly due to a lack of ambition if not some creativity (Hamann, like QT, is an Elvis fan thoroughly, which is a nice touch),I wish Hamann had made some more films. Between this and My Best Friend's Birthday, he doesn't shine out like a great auteur, but there are sparks that speak to an original talent just waiting to develop. Sadly, this doesn't really do it though. 5.5/10

Craig Hamann wrote and directed this meandering, F-bomb-heavy low-budget action-drama involving a recently-paroled kid in Los Angeles who steps out of prison and immediately into trouble when a close buddy pulls him back into the drug-dealing life. The eclectic cast (including former porn-star Traci Lords, former 'serious actress' Emily Lloyd, rock star Joan Jett as a bar band singer and Frederic Forrest as a burnt-out desert hippie, the kind of role Dennis Hopper used to specialize in) give mostly amateurish performances, which is entirely the fault of Hamann the screenwriter, whose florid dialogue never contains the ring of truth. The scenario has been sexually neutered--reportedly at the request of the film's skittish distributors--though what's left is truly offensive, beginning with a collection of trash-talking junkie characters one would cross the street to avoid. Hamann's occasional artistic attributes behind the camera show a potentially intriguing new talent, but his own flimsy, derivative material ultimately defeats him. *1/2 from ****

Jesse is starting a new leaf. Fresh from prison and a lifestyle of drugs and crime, Jesse is drifting and searching for any meaning of existence for the straight and narrow life, anything to cling to even if it is meager in order to put his past behind him. Unfortunately for him, the bonds of loyalty, friendship and morals just won't let him. This driving force is the basic premise that ties the lives of several people during a decisive 24-hour period in Craig Hamann's excellent and well-executed character study.

PLOT Within a few months of his release, Jesse (Mark Dacascos) travels to L.A. to hook up a visit with his old cellmate and friend Larry (Jaimz Woolvett). Larry, simply, doesn't really have his life together, but his addiction tells him otherwise. It doesn't take long before Jesse realizes the potential of being in a bad situation as he meets the rest of Larry's crew and makes it clear to his friend that this is only a visit and will be on his way. Larry takes advantage of their friendship that night by setting up a drug deal with some young yuppie kids and having Jesse, while on a natural high from getting an offer to play drums in a band (Joan Jett as JERK),to back him and his pals up during the tradeoff. The deal goes bad and Jesse ends up killing the yuppies in self-defense when he discovers the whole deal is a setup. Everyone is soon on the run, as the yuppies happen to have older brothers who run a real underground organization. From here on out Jesse and Larry take to the road where they run into some extremely eccentric characters and the truth behind their own lives and motivations.

While the framework of this story works well to lead to a violent, tense and well-executed solution, the real core of the story is with the dramatic elements of the characters. Writer and Director Craig Hamann successfully manages to pull off intricate and interesting characters within a very bleak and dirty foray of drug use rather than resorting to one dimensional cardboard characters. Acting wise, the real winner here is Mark Dacascos, who manages to prove that he has more behind his expressive eyes than just a violent action hero machine ala Van Damme or Steve Segall. Dacascos is a truly talented actor that is usually wasted within the horrible straight to video action genre. A role such as this is truly a showcase of his talents. Everyone else does an excellent job as well with standouts by Jaimz Woolvett as Larry, Traci Lords as a drug addicted Scream Queen, Joan Jett doing what she does best screaming into the mike with an attitude and a star turning performance by Frederic Forrest (Chef from Apocalypse Now) as a very strange loner with his own secrets to hide. In fact the performances and written characters played by Forrest and his "wife" Emily Lloyd (turning in a very sexy yet bizarre act) have enough depth to carry off their own whole feature.

For all you homophobes, yes, there is a homosexual subtext to the film between Jesse and Larry but it is only implied not shown and if you find that offensive then most likely you would be happier watching a brain-dead action film. In fact the subtext, while daring, is an excellent voice behind the two characters as one desperately tries to hold onto the past while the other seeks for some sort of normal existence. There is an honesty here within the characters that will leave you thinking well after the movie ends.

Overall, within the frames of the violence, action, road film attitude, eccentric characters, drug use and other aspects of the film, is a witty and realistic study of human nature. It counts. It is dramatic. Powerful