Just Add Water
Dylan Walsh, Jonah Hill, Danny DeVito
Written and directed buy Hart Bochner
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2008
91 minutes Rated R
Just Add Water is one weird dark comedy DVD. It begins as one of the most depressing comedies I have seen in a long time and ends … well, you’ll have to see it. Although rather static, there is something about the story and characters that keeps you watching this movie.
Good guy Ray Tuckby (Dylan Walsh) lives in Trona. This small California town was once an oasis but is now a desert town inhabited by dead end people and is owned and run by a meth dealer named Dirk and his gang of teen thugs.
Ray is one of those quiet, sensible guys who just keep plodding on no matter what. It gets pretty difficult when his life becomes as empty as the shelves in the local supermarket. All that keeps him going is his crush on the local cashier and his get through it outlook.
Just Add Water is told in retrospect by Merl (Danny DeVito) a successful businessman who for some reason opens a gas station just outside Trona. Things come to a head when Dirk destroys Merl’s new business, the only positive thing to have happened in Trona in many years, and then pushes Ray too far.
Ray’s revenge is quite fun to watch if a bit short considering how long it takes for Just Add Water to get there.
The ending is … unusual. Just Add Water is one of those strange low budget movies that work but do not have quite enough magic to make you want to watch it again.
For absolutely no reason, this Canadian couldn’t help thinking Trona might be a metaphor for Toronto.