Lost in America

Editorial Reviews/Amazon.com
It seems to lack something on first viewing--where's the third act, anyway?--but Albert Brooks's Lost in America is one of those movies that people keep quoting to each other long after they've seen it. And no one has come up with a more incisive look at the phenomenon of the '80s yuppie, a figure toward whom Brooks manages to aim both his satire and his sympathy. The bushy-haired, tightly-wound actor plays a well-paid L.A. executive who quits his job in a fit of pique when he fails to land a promotion. Armed with their savings, he and the wife (Julie Hagerty) buy a Winnebago and hit the road; they're going to search for America and find themselves. Right. They get as far as Las Vegas, where Hagerty has a little problem at the gaming tables. Brooks's rant on the concept of "the nest-egg" goes right into the comedy hall of fame, and his scene with a casino manager (Garry Marshall, underplaying beautifully) is a masterpiece of wheedling desperation. Somehow amidst the comedy, Brooks captures the panic beneath the upwardly-mobile go-go American guy, circa 1985. The open road will never be the same. --Robert Horton --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

About Schmidt

Editorial Reviews/Amazon.com
While confirming Jack Nicholson's status as an American national treasure, About Schmidt is sure to provoke polarized reactions. Stoked by the success of Election, director Alexander Payne and cowriter Jim Taylor have altered Louis Begley's novel to suit their comedic agenda, turning Nicholson's titular character into a 66-year-old, newly retired Omaha insurance actuary, weary from decades of drudgery and passionless marriage. When his wife suddenly dies, he attempts to reclaim his life in a king-sized Winnebago, desperate to convince his daughter (Hope Davis) not to marry the Denver dimwit (Dermot Mulroney) whose mother (Kathy Bates) has her own baggage of peculiar peccadilloes. Nicholson perfectly (and often hilariously) nails the seething anger beneath his character's façade of resignation, but Payne and Taylor convey cold-hearted contempt for these Midwestern malcontents. Think of this as Ikiru with bleaker humanity, until Schmidt finds meaning--and some small reward--in a quiet gesture of goodwill. Love it or hate it, About Schmidt is a movie you won't soon forget. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.

Monster Garage - RV Skate Board

Jesse James (a direct linear descendant of the famed outlaw), a noted builder of custom motorcycles in Southern California, assembles a crew and takes ordinary vehicles (like a VW New Beetle or a Lincoln stretch limosine) and converts them in five days into extrodinary machines that do things that the manufacturer never intended them to do (like convert the VW into a swamp boat or the limo into a fire truck.)

What Alice Found

Fed up with her small-town New England life in a dead-end job and an embarrassing mother, nineteen-year-old Alice (Emily Grace) takes off in her car and heads down to Florida. Not long into her escape, things go horribly wrong and her car eventually breaks down on the highway. Two Good Samaritans (Judith Ivey, Bill Raymond) seem to appear out of nowhere and offer to drive Alice the rest of the way. Bill and Sandra are two middle-aged retirees traveling the country in their RV. Sandra takes Alice in, as if she were her own daughter, and Alice happily accepts this surrogate family. But as the highway miles slowly pass, Alice begins noticing some strange things. She soon figures out that things aren't always what they seem to be.

Steeles on Wheels

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take off in a camper one day and never come back? Steeles on Wheels chronicles a year in the life of a 50-something couple who are doing just that — living full-time in a 34-foot recreational vehicle. With humor and candor, Steeles on Wheels answers the most common questions about living on the road, such as managing money, getting along in close quarters, the issue of “legal residency,” big-rig driving skills, sewer hookups, how to choose campgrounds, living without a phone, getting mail, and much more. Also included are charts, checklists, and practical survival tips. E-mail letters to friends and family, along with some written from the sassy viewpoint of the traveling family dog, convey the delights of the ever-changing scenery and non-stop adventures of living in an RV. The book is an armchair travel guide to a daring, yet economical new lifestyle for the 21st century.

First We Quit Our Jobs

Editorial Reviews/Amazon.com
Just a few months shy of his 20th anniversary at RCA, Sandy MacGregor got his pink slip. Once the shock wore off, he and his wife, Marilyn J. Abraham, then a vice president and editor at Simon & Schuster, did what any rational couple with more than fifty-two combined years on the corporate fast track would do: they traded in the boardroom for the open road and embarked on a four-month trek across America. First We Quit Our Jobs is Abraham's account of their odyssey. Granted, a Winnebago was not their first choice when the bad news came, but after an attempt to buy a small publishing company in New England fell through, MacGregor and Abraham packed their bags and went in search of their destiny.
Part travelogue, part meditation, and part guide to "the road not taken," First We Quit Our Jobs is a charmingly written chronicle of discovery. As MacGregor and Abrahams began to depart from the way they'd always assumed their lives would go, they found the freedom to shape the way they'd like their lives to be.

This is Nowhere

Boise Weekly - "This is Nowhere takes the viewer on an utterly fascinating journey."
Preview Magazine - "Fascinating."
Montana Kaiman - "Excellent...a funny, endearing and sometimes sorroful look at the people who call themselves ‘Wally Worlders.’"
RV Lifestyle - "It’s a hoot!"
Grand Rapids Press - "Great fun...This Is Nowhere presents a bizarre subculture that left me with my jaw hanging."