Journey To The End Of The Night (0 Money Trains)

Oh.
My.
God.

I was in Karama buying illicit DVDs the other day. My dealer had been busted so I was trying out a new bloke - good prints, but a high price and a poor selection. I walked away with "Journey". I'd never heard of it, but it's got Brendan Fraser (playing Paul, a coked up pimp in Sao Paulo), Mos Def (a dishwasher turned drug courier called Wemba) and Scott Glenn (Paul's dad, also a pimp). So I think to myself: some good actors, promising story, I'll buy it.

Big mistake.

This film is so bad I'm thinking of inventing a new scale just for it. The big problem was that the actors forgot to act. Mos Def turned in his usual mumbling performance and was the stand out performer, but Scott Glenn looked like he was auditioning for the Kevin Costner - Keanu Reeves School of Performance Art, while Brendan Fraser seemingly confused "bad ass" with "bad".

Plot wise, this is one stupid film. When the pimping family's (sorry, I forget the surname) super athletic-looking drug courier dies of a heart attack while rooting a transvestite prostitute (why?), Dad (Glenn) has to find a replacement who can speak some African language so he can sell a suitcase full of Charlie. Enter Wemba (Def. Or is it Mos?) Meanwhile the dad's son, Paul (Fraser), plans to cut the old man out of the deal and abscond with the money and his dad's hot younger wife.

Naturally, things go wrong. Wemba gets mugged (by lazy muggers who forget to take his backpack full of cash) and can't report in, Paul gets in an unnecessary fight with the tranny hooker (coincidence, only), the vice squad shows up and wants a piece of the action, and oh yeah, Paul's doing his step mother.

There are too many stupid details that just aren't necessary, too many stupid side characters that don't add anything, a total lack of common sense from anyone in the film, and an ending
that just screams "I ran out of ideas, how about everyone pulls out a gun?" I think I understand now why I'd never heard of this film. A big Zero from me.