Hoping to dodge the Vietnam War draft, two teenagers enrol in college, and when study proves too demanding they drive across the country encountering free love, drugs and the hippie movement in this odd little film from the pen of On Golden Pond's Ernest Thompson. The film has several dramatic moments that rival 'Pond' in their intensity, most notably an altercation between co-lead Keifer Sutherland and his gung ho older brother who is excited about being drafted. The tension in the air between Sutherland and Bruce Dern as his war veteran father is well conveyed too. The film trips up though whenever it tries to inject comedy into the story. At its lamest, there is an extended sequence in which co-lead Robert Downey Jr. runs about an auditorium in his underwear after turning up stoned to his sister's graduation ceremony. It is also hard to know what to make of an early played-for- laughs sequence in which the friends hitch a ride with a much older man who only has one thing on his mind. The drama here is really good though, with both leads as well as Winona Ryder in support having their fair share of strong moments. The return home sequences are especially memorable in this regard, but with Thompson trying to make his film equally as funny as it is moving, the results are a little mixed, even if the film leaves a favourable impression overall.
