This is not a film where everything appears obvious. It is dark and complicated. It is about how the past haunts you and affects your life in the present. It is the stuff that Freud would have fun dealing with.

The stars in this film give performances that are among the best in their careers.

Dennis Quaid (Frequency, Far From Heaven) is clearly the lead in this picture as the son of a soulless murderer and thief (James Caan). He carries the devil with him through his life and it affects his relationships with women. He runs into an abused housewife (Meg Ryan, in a non-romantic role),and they travel the back-roads of Texas together. Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakesphere in Love) is a thief that plays Caan's companion, even if he is old enough to be her grandfather.

This is written and directed by the Oscar nominated (Wonder Boys) writer of all of the Harry Potter movies, Steve Kloves. He does a fabulous job.

Definitely a movie to watch when you get a chance.

The Willets family finds a boy in their yard. The phone is out and they take him in for the night. His father Roy Sweeney (James Caan) comes in to rob the family but he ends up massacring them. Only the baby survives. Some thirty years later, Arlis Sweeney (Dennis Quaid) travels Texas filling his vending machines. On one of his stops, he encounters stripper Kay Davies (Meg Ryan) who pops out of a cake for a party at the bar. Instead she passes out and as a favor, Arlis takes her to his motel room. He keeps seeing grifter Ginnie (Gwyneth Paltrow) on the road and he gives Kay a ride. Arlis gets close to Kay but they don't know about their past connection.

I like the haunted feel of the desolate Texas landscape. Meg Ryan is amazing as the broken Kay. I really like the feel of this movie but a couple of things bothered me a little. It's silly to keep running into Gwyneth Paltrow. Her scenes are better served if she's with James Caan. There's no real need that she keeps almost running into Dennis Quaid. The movie needs slightly more Caan. Gwyneth is good especially as a newcomer. The last act is just anti-climatic. It's missing something. I also don't understand what Roy was trying to do at the house. I guess he is simply a bad man who is torturing his son because Arlis could never tell Kay about that night. It's not like Roy wants something from Arlis. It doesn't make much sense.

Well, it's tough to find more attractive leads than real-life husband-wife Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan but the film is one ugly one. I watched it twice in the past 10 years but canned it halfway through on the second look because it just had too sleazy a feel. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You need to take a shower after watching this film.

Like many older classic movies, this centered more on character development and was interesting for at least one look, so I'm NOT totally slamming the film. Quaid and Ryan trade off each other as adulterers in the story - which is "okay" they both say - and James Caan plays Quaid's sicko father and he's a bit scary. Gwyneth Paltrow is the final main character and she's as much, of not more, of a lowlife than the others. This was her first role in films, I've read.

Ryan looks as good as she ever looked: just beautiful, but she's so trashy in here that it makes her lose her appeal. Everyone's trashy in here, actually. That's the film: trailer trash to a "T."