| Home | Me & Will, Easy Rider meet Thelma and Louise. Movie projects are often pitched to studio executives as a marriage between two older creations. "Me & Will", an independent film now available on VHS and DVD, could be described as "Thelma and Louise meet Easy Rider" This movie stars two tall blondes, Sherrie Rose and Melissa Behr, who are also billed as producers, directors and screenwriters. Rose and Behr are LA women looking for a way out of their destructive lifestyles. And this way out is on their Dynas and on the open road as they set out for Montana, where Will (Melissa Behr) believes that the Captain America --Fonda's bike in the classic-- might be waiting for them, in her home town. Will and Jane's (Sherrie Rose) friendship starts when they break out of an urban rehab centre; acronyms sent them there: DUI and OD. As the 1080 miles of asphalt unroll, we learn about Jane's demons, about Will's family, about the bikers and ordinary folks they meet on their way. The soundtrack leaves the alternative rock of LA's seedy bars, progresses to The Door's Queen of the Highway (with beautiful cinematography in San Francisco) and leads us with the twangs of a 12-string guitar, reflecting the breathtaking vistas of Montana.
Should this video cross over on one's "To Buy" list? Only for a die-hard fan of Easy Rider who collects everything remotely associated with this classic... Me & Will pays tribute to Easy Rider's classic camp fire scenes. This time, though, the topic is not freedom but the existence --or lack thereof-- of God. Melissa Behr, sometimes an actress and more often a photographer, directed the camera work in Me and Will. In that aspect, save for a bit of focus-finding, she raises to the challenge, incorporating split-screen effects, slow-motion multiple exposure to capture the drugged out lovemaking of Jane, and out-of-focus underexposure to reflect's Will's drunken riding. Sherrie Rose, sometimes an actress and more often a writer, directed the actors' work. But she doesn't meet the challenge as well as Behr did behind the camera; overacting is unfortunately common in this movie. However, this film should definitively go on one's "to rent" list. Should it cross over on one's "To Buy" list? Only for a die-hard fan of Easy Rider who collects everything remotely associated with this classic. On a last note, viewers of Me & Will are invited to watch it until the end of the credits: those who hit "rewind" too soon will miss out on an incredible 20 second-scene that can only be described as sweet revenge. To hint of any more would spoil a wonderful surprise...
This movie, in DVD or VHS, is not available on amazon.ca. However, you can get it from amazon.com Review originally published on the Harley e-mail Digest on March 7, 2000 and posted April 6, 2000 on the rec.motorcycles.harley newsgroup. |
