Chasers

Director Dennis Hopper has the anarchic spirit to make “Chasers” pay off, and writers Joe Batteer, John Rice and Dan Gilroy have provided him with a smart script, a deft mix of slapstick, sharp repartee and sentiment.

It's just a good ol' bad ol' low-road road movie, a throwback to thirty years ago, a picture with hairy arms and a brew in one fist. Maybe that's why, as it ended, I could swear I heard Sam Peckinpah's ghost chuckling away.

But Mr. Berenger, grousing steadily, and Mr. McNamara, in a boyish Ricky Nelson mode, are likably matched. Ms. Eleniak, who also made a playful and picturesque Elly May Clampett in "The Beverly Hillbillies," succeeds here in rising above the cheesecake level.

Chasers"is a road picture with a few genuinely funny comic scenes and a number of good performances. [30 Apr 1994]

It's a bust. The characters are bland; the dialogue is lame; and the situational comedy and inevitable dramatics are mediocre at best. The quietly released Warner Bros. film might play well on naval bases and ships at sea, but everyone else will steer clear. [25 Apr 1994]

Earning instant shame as the worst film of the year so far, "Chasers" offers all the proof anyone will ever need that a theatrically released feature film can be just as bad - and far worse - than the most inanely boring garbage that passes for television these days. [23 Apr 1994]

But those looking for enlightenment on this boring road trip better bring along a flashlight. The sex change merely allows Erika Eleniak, who won more respect from her critters as Elly May in The Beverly Hillbillies than she does from the male animals here, to doff her duds as often as she tries to escape. Running tampon gags are never a good sign. [26 Apr 1994, p.8D]