Buffalo 66 MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 Content: -2

Editor's Note: This film is rated NR. Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) has just been released after spending time in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Filled with rage, he plots revenge against the former quarterback of the Buffalo Bills, the source of all of Billy's troubles. But first the ex-con must visit his parents (Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara) and prove he is not a loser. Having no girlfriend, Billy grabs Layla, a teenager (Christina Ricci), as she leaves a dancing class and forces her to drive them to his parents' home and pretend they are married and rich. His dad totally ignores Billy; his mother keeps turning up the volume on the TV set so she can follow the Buffalos' football game. As Billy tries to connect with his uncaring parents, his hostage obediently plays her role as a loving wife. She seems to understand Billy better than Billy understands himself. BUFFALO 66 is mostly grim and depressing; however, the bizarre characters are fascinating, and the message that love conquers all gives BUFFALO 66 substance.

This unrated film contains an abundance of "R" elements, especially foul language. Almost 50 obscenities and 9 regular profanities, along with early crude scenes of Billy urinating, are all gratuitous. Billy's temper erupts several times as verbal abuse towards Layla and a young retarded friend, who knows Billy plans to murder the former football quarterback. His mother resents Billy being born on the very day the Buffalo Bills played in the Superbowl. His father never looks Billy in the eye, but can't keep his hands off of his new "daughter-in-law." They show no curiosity about Billy's whereabouts the past five years, and have only one picture of him as a child. Billy desperately wants to be "somebody" in their eyes. The film has no sex scenes although Billy and Layla lie together fully clothed in a motel room. They are shown sitting in a tub with nudity implied, but Billy can't bear to be touched and the scene is non-sexual. One very disturbing, gory murder-suicide at a strip joint proves to be Billy's fantasy and topless dancers appear in that scene. To see such a tortured soul finally recognize he is worthy of love saves BUFFALO 66 from total hopelessness. But its foul language and one graphic violent scene will offend sensitive viewers.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., P.O. Box 49139, Vancouver B.C., Canada V7X 1J1