Speedway Junky
Executive producer Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting) once again tells a powerful story of overlooked young men in an indifferent society.
Las Vegas promises easy money and glamorous times to the adults who flock there, but what does it promise a kid? In Speedway Junky, Johnny (Jesse Bradford, Clockstoppers, Dancing at the Blue Iguana) has run away from his military family with a dream of racing cars in North Carolina. Naïve and broke, he ends up in Las Vegas, where he meets Eric (Jordan Brower, Texas Rangers, TV’s Teen Angel) and his street gang friends, including brash hustler Steven (Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Common Ground, TV’s Home Improvement),
Initially attracted by the party atmosphere, Johnny walks off in anger when he finds out Eric is gay. On his own, he keeps getting in trouble, but Eric always comes to his rescue. Eric offers Johnny a place to live and makes the difficult decision to teach him to hustle. As the two boys become close, they are confronted by a life-threatening situation involving drugs, money and betrayal.
Bradford is quite convincing as the innocent teen who comes to love his gay friend. Brower, likewise, shines as the kid who hustles because he thinks he must, but is capable of great love and loyalty, both for Johnny and for his “surrogate mom,” a former junky played affectingly by Darryl Hannah (Splash, Steel Magnolias).
And after years of playing the kid brother on Home Improvement, it’s fascinating to see Jonathan Taylor Thomas play a swaggering hotshot who’ll sleep with the male or female who offers the most bucks on any given night.
