Three for the Road

It’s true there’s little highbrow directing and no chic cinematography nor a musical score that you’ll whistle the next day. But if you’re in a mood for good, solid laughs and a rompy time traveling the roads with three rather good actors, “Three for the Road” is a good bet.

Each time Sheen threatens to take the film to another level, director Noton throws in a pratfall or a car chase to knock it down. Three for the Road" is a film that must struggle to be stupid; unfortunately, it succeeds. [15 Apr 1987, p.5]

There's not much to this empty-headed feature except that Sheen gives a commendable performance with what little characterization is provided by the lame script.

The movie makers try to revive another day’s genre--the early ’70’s “road” pictures--in today’s terms. And it doesn’t work. The looser, more anarchic feelings they’re going after don’t jibe with the modern packaging, and they wind up with something slicked-up, streamlined and hollow--like “Blowing in the Wind” rearranged as elevator music.

The director, B. W. L. Norton, and the writers, Richard Martini, Tim Metcalfe and Miguel Tejada-Flores, display no idea whatsoever of how to keep a film moving or how to hold an audience's interest. Listlessness and sloppiness on this scale are truly depressing.

Road is about as much fun as a flat tire. [10 Apr 1987, p.D5]