Jesse Page (Mark Dacascos) is an ex-convict whom wants to go straight, but has problems with his former cell mate Larry (Jaimz Woolvett) whom wants Jesse's help with his friends for a drug deal. But when the deal goes sour and the thugs whom try to rip them off end up getting killed, Jesse and the others are forced to flee.
Jesse and Larry hide out in an dilapidated motel in the California desert where Jesse decides on a change by going to Detroit to join a band he played at. But with Larry tagging along, brings up more complications, as well as the eccentric motel owner Edsel (Frederic Forrest) and his crazed ex-stripper wife Hester (Emily Lloyd), while the drug dealers slowly begin to close in on all of them.
Review
A very compelling movie that in my opinion, for what its worth, is one of the most convincing I've seen of Jaimz. Its very hard to not to believe at any one point that his character isn't in love with Jesse or that he's completely addicted to drugs and is in a state of bad withdrawal, his performance is so spot on.
This film is not perfect, but its close to being one of those hidden gems you can uncover sometimes in the independent world. Written by Craig Hamman who is said to have worked on the story for Pulp Fiction (though remains uncredited), its hard not to see that influence in this film, unfortunately for all Pulp Fiction got right, Boogie Boy got a few things wrong. My biggest dislike would be the somewhat cheesy inclusion of the band story, and the performance of Joan Jett. I could see why it was there, Jesse needed a goal, an ambition and a way out but the execution seemed so forced and I'm glad it only amounted to a few scenes, any more and it could have been excruciating.
Jesse in one scene is reminded of his drumming ambitions by Larry, and then whoa a few scenes later a drummer drops out of the band, and lo and behold Jesse can step up and his dream is realised when he's offered a place in the band, but seriously that was my only complaint. The rest of the film follows a path that sees Jesse being dragged back into the world he desperately wants to leave, and through simple acts of probably being too nice to friends he's better of without, you see how fragile the line is that could make it impossible for Jesse to make a decent life for himself.
The characters in this are very well portrayed and fleshed out, even though Jesse is the guy you root for you sense that he's brought on a lot of his problems himself by using others and its interesting to see how Larry reacts when Jesse appears to push him away, claiming things are different now they are not locked away. I love the ending to this film but I won't ruin it here, I am a sucker for twists and turns and I was completely happy with the conclusion, even if it left a lot to the imagination.
Larry was a brilliant character for Jaimz, and there's moments in this film where you get to see him at his very best and very worse - and I only refer to the being sick in the toilet bit there, sometimes he can act a little too convincingly! but this is definitely worth a viewing, another plus is seeing a pre-Farscape/Stargate SG1 Ben Browder appearing midway through the film with a really dodgy bowl head hair cut!