Jack is caught with the wife of his employer, a Vegas thug. The thug sends goons after Jack, who convinces his best friend, Pilot, to flee with him. Pilot insists that they head for Seattle, but doesn't tell Jack why. The goons learn from Pilot's drug source where the youths are headed, and they follow, hell bent on breaking Jack's feet. On the road, Jack and Pilot give a ride to Cassie, a distressed young woman. She and Jack hit it off. They pick up an aging stoner headed to Seattle for Kurt Cobain's memorial, and they help a circus sideshow family. Why is Pilot so set on Seattle, will the goons catch Jack, and is there any way the friends' competing needs can be resolved?
Acting
Gyllenhaal commits HARD to stoner energy before he was famous.
Production
Soundtrack is a grunge graveyard—Alice in Chains, R.E.M., Nirvana himself.
Costume
Every outfit screams 'I stole this from a Sunset Strip dumpster, 1994.'
Director
James Cox
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Gyllenhaal's first post-Donnie Darko role, and he reportedly took it specifically to play against type as a slacker stoner.
The film's release was delayed two years, missing both the actual 1994 Cobain memorial and the cultural moment it was chasing—by 2002, grunge nostalgia already felt like ancient history.
US
