Prince Avalanche

Stars: Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch, Lance LeGault, Joyce Payne, Gina Grande

Director: David Gordon Green

1988: in a Texas wilderness ravaged by forest fires, two men (Rudd, Hirsch) spend their summer painting yellow lines down the middle of the road. The film does eventually get where it's going, though it might lose you along the way, especially in a pretty slow first half.

It's odds-on, of course, that the guys will get drunk in the long run and weave wavy yellows all over the road; in this case, the trigger is a 'Dear John' letter sent to Alvin (Rudd) by his girlfriend, who happens to be the sister of his co-worker Lance (Hirsch) who, it later transpires, has romantic problems of his own.

The neat liquor on which they get sloshed is supplied by the roguish old trucker they keep running across. He's played at full spittle by LeGault, one of Hollywood's treasurable character actors, who died soon after the film was completed.

It's a whimsical, leisurely piece, prettily photographed by Tim Orr, but too sluggishly paced to appeal to filmgoers fed a diet of zombies and superheroes. And heaven knows why it's called Prince Avalanche.

David Quinlan

USA 2012. UK Distributor: Metrodome. Colour (unspecified).
94 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 18 Oct 2013