revbighig Don't compare this with Pulp Fiction, or any other movie for that matter. Just watch it, not as a critic, but as a peeping tom looking into the real lives of real people. There are many times I prefer unknown actors in a movie because I can avoid preconceptions and watch the characters, not the actors. Yet even though I knew quite a few of these actors, I was able to lose myself in the people they created -- real people, like many I've met, hung with, talked to, cared about. I enjoyed this film, the laughs, surprises, interactions and shocks and I think reg'lar fellas (and gals) will too. It's kicking around Showtime, and you should catch it.

dan-449 We find ourselves just outside the small town of Ozona, What now?Several characters asking the same question, in a film written and directed by J.S. Cardone. A great collection of notable actors and actresses wonderfully holding together a script that lacked not in originality but mostly in thought.Where did they go wrong?Printing it on celluloid is one answer.But beyond that, there were several wonderfully written characters that on their own, could have held up perfectly in other films. It was as if the writer, had ideas for several films and threw them into a feature length blender named Ozona. If the writer had maintained the characters separately there may have been some other notable features available rather than this. Now we are sitting at home watching a film that should be instead, the film school blueprint to Hollywood cliches. I do give the actors or actresses that were in this film the chance to remove it from their resume, and continue on with their lives in hopes of rebuilding their careers. In my personal advice, save your money, rent... a good film... Any other video on the shelf will do, please just avoid this one.

Movie-12 OUTSIDE OZONA / (1998) **1/2 (out of four)By Blake French: "Outside Ozona" wanders just a little too much to warrant a recommendation. It's a solid attempt from first time director and screenwriter J.S. Cardone; he creates a sordid environment for his characters and often provokes a real sense of community and compassion, but there are just too many characters and too little of a plot to carry them through. I enjoyed much of the film, enough to call this movie a close miss-but I cannot recommend a movie that doesn't know what it's about. There is so much material here, the thin plot threads quickly break apart, and the audience is the group who wishes there we're some kind of boundaries to keep everything together. The movie takes place during a single night on the stretching deserted highways outside Ozona, Oklahoma. We meet a lot of characters, too many, that all seem to live separate lives unrelated to the others. There's a circus clown (Kevin Pollack) who gets mad when he's fired, but becomes even more angry when he discovers his stripper girlfriend (Penelope Ann Miller) has previously slept with his boss to help save his job. There is a lonesome truck driver (Robert Forster) who lends a helping hand to a Navajo Indian woman, whose grandmother (Keteri Walker) is dying. Two bitter sisters (including Sherilyn Fenn) who pick up hitchhiker (David Paymer) who may or may not be a serial killer roaming the highways. The film makes several attempts to connect these stories, which we cut back and forth from throughout the film. One of those attempts deals with a disco jockey on his last strings (Taj Mahal), whose boss (Meat Loaf) isn't happy that his radio station has become under the heat of higher powers. Another attempt is the film's climax, in which all of these stories come to a literal crash. This is disposable and needless. It concludes the various circumstances, but doesn't succeed in bringing them together for a final showdown. It's kind of a disappointment. There are many scenes in which the various characters exchange lengthy conversations that really don't further the plot. But is there really a central plot? Not really. Perhaps that's why the movie doesn't work, because it has no focus, no purpose to build the tension, no story to develop. This is a simple character study. One that often becomes violent (there are some graphically bloody images) gratuitous (there's a scene in a strip club that involves so much unwarranted nudity it feels awkward), and boring (look up "talking heads" in a film analysis book and you'll probably find references to this film). Some of the characters are interesting, but with so many, the film doesn't know which ones. After all of this I forgot to mention the subplot involving the FBI tracking down a serial killer who brutally murders young women as a means of religious rituals. When you forget a subplot that major and important, you know the film's plate is a little too full.

Ben Burgraff (cariart) 'Outside Ozona', an off-beat dark comedy/thriller directed by J.S. Cardone, is a little gem, brightened by a cast of established Hollywood actors. The story involves a serial killer, pursued by agent Lucy Webb (in a role reminiscent of Frances McDormand, in 'Fargo'), but it is really a character study of a group of people whose lives will be changed forever by the killer, during one eventful night.Standouts in the large cast include Taj Mahal, as a burned-out deejay at a country music station, who switches the playlist to rhythm and blues, and ruminates about life; Robert Forster, portraying a good-hearted trucker dealing with loneliness following the death of his wife; Kevin Pollack and Penelope Ann Miller (who is EXCELLENT!), as an unemployed circus clown and his dancer/hooker girlfriend; and Sherilyn Fenn (cast WAY against type!), as a shrewish, materialistic woman travelling with her sister to visit their father. As each character's story unfolds, you are drawn into a rich, involving tale of humor, melancholy, and a touch of the macabre!The film is very well-paced, and will hold your attention, throughout, and the explosive climax is both exciting and emotionally satisfying! Take a drive down the highway 'Outside Ozona'...you'll enjoy the trip!