Starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Voight Directed by Oliver Stone Rated R, with much graphic violence, profanity and sex Running time 125 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 6 out of 10

(Oct. 3, 1997) -- When Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) turns down a gravel road into the town from hell, he makes a right turn, not a U-Turn. To be honest, the guy making the u-turn here is director Oliver Stone.

After more than a decade of controversial political films that have espoused any number of conspiracy theories, Stone has made a darkly comedic thriller that's as apolitical as it is bloody.

U-Turn is about basic human passions -- lust, greed, double-dealing and murder. And though those elements run rampant through politics, here they're dealt with on a personal level.

U-Turn is part of the modern wave of hard-boiled film noirs that take place in the spooky sun-drenched desert of the American Southwest, rather than the shadowy mean streets of New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco. The film's obvious predecessors are Blood Simple, The Hot Spot and Red Rock West.

But viewers will also recognize echoes of original noirs, including Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice and even David O. Selznick's lust-in-the-dust Western Duel in the Sun. "This movie has LOTS of parents," is how a fellow filmgoer correctly put it.

But although it is clearly derivative, U-Turn is enlivened by Stone's frantic fast-paced film style, a blood-splattered landscape and a variety of quirky performances.

Penn stars as Cooper, a former tennis player on the run from gambling debts of $30,000. As he drives swiftly across the Arizona desert, his classic Ford Mustang blows a hose, and he's forced to pull off the highway to find a gas station in the Godforsaken town of Superior.

There, a grungy dimwitted mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton) tells him it'll take a little while -- and cost $150 -- which drives Bobby nuts, because he has little time and less money.

He walks into town, looking for a drink while he contemplates how he'll raise the $150. Soon, though, he's distracted by the sexy Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez). Apparently, Bobby has not seen many femme fatale movies because he doesn't see how he is being trapped by the woman.

Eventually, she tries to get him to kill her mean-spirited older husband, Jake (Nick Nolte). The situation gets increasingly kinky when we learn Jake is also her stepfather, having previously done something unspoken and horrible to Grace's mother.

But suddenly, Bobby finds himself with all sorts of offers -- it seems Jake also wants him to kill Grace. Though he's not enthusiastic about either job, at least he knows he can pay for his car repairs -- and even pay off his gambling debts. He just needs to commit murder.

Strolling through this sordid, cynical web are various other oddballs, including a blind beggar (Jon Voight), a flirtatious teenager (Claire Danes) who wants to bed Bobby, her jealous boyfriend (Joaquin Phoenix) who wants to beat him up, and a caustic beer-swigging sheriff (Powers Boothe).

But while the assortment of oversexed nut cases generate short-term interest, Stone and his writer (John Ridley) never sufficiently develop their key characters -- especially Bobby. U-Turn would be far more intriguing if you cared about anybody in the movie. Since you don't, the result is more a curio collection than an engrossing tale.

The talented Penn struggles hard to bring life to Bobby and to make him sympathetic, but we just don't know enough to give a darn. (Stone flirts with flashbacks showing him apparently as a tennis champion, but Stone's visual shorthand doesn't provide enough information.)

Stone's trademark techniques -- fast cuts, multiple images, mixed film stocks, odd film speeds, weird angles -- overtake the film.

As written, U-Turn doesn't quite have enough substance to hold up under the weight of so much style.