A loner befriends a local celebrity, Billy Magic, but soon
Director: Guy Ferland
Stars: Kevin Bacon, Brad Renfro, Maximilian Schell, Calista Flockhart, Paul Dooley.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120303/
Watched online, good print.
~20 songs in the Soundtracks, only 1 performed by a cast member.
The loner (BR) told lies to "befriend" the DJ (KB) in the first place. He put what he thought was Spanish Fly in CF's drink. He told a priest, in confession, that something happened which did not. This kid lies as a matter of course, and sticks with them. That's why the DJ chooses him to accept his payola, so that he'll lie to authorities when they come sniffing. (So why wouldn't he also take some or all of a payment?)
The loner is an immigrant, and still has some difficulty pronouncing "th", but KB recommends he put a rubberband around his tongue and then practice, and somehow that works. He's a high school kid, supposedly 17 (oh, maybe that was a lie), but BR was b. '82, and looks young. He was expelled from school right before graduation, so he's supposed to be a senior in hs, whatever his age.
Basically, there's no one to like in this film. The DJ keeps bouncing from town to town because of his payola issues, BR is a liar, CF (b. '64) is aloof some of the time, but sleeps with this kid.
And the ending is fuzzy: BR seems to have changed his mind multiple times about whether to testify against KB, and then lies by telling half-truths, but lies about his testimony. Or not. I really didn't care, and did some other stuff before writing about this, so my memory has already faded.
Avoid.
Rated 6.3 (1,975)
indie, dir. Ferland; 5
