Waking Up in Reno
Waking Up in Reno
R | 13 December 2002 (USA)
Waking Up in Reno Trailers

Candy and Lonnie Earl are just crazy about each other. The problem: she's married to Roy and he's married to Darlene. So far it's been a secret affair. But that's about to change, because this foursome is driving cross-country and headed for some big surprises.

Reviews
Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable
Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,
Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
selmanalkan The main idea of the film is that "Roy,honey, l love you. No, l mean, l really love you. But, recently, l have let your best friend bang me for a while but l swear l never moaned or screamed. Honey, l love you and we will also have a baby soon no matter who the father is...." This film is that crap. Cheating has become something inevitable in American movies. what a shame...
Syl Billy Bob Thornton plays Lonnie Earl Dodd, a car salesman in Arkansas, with his wife Darlene (played by British actress the late Natasha Richardson). With their best friends, a couple Roy (played by the late Patrick Swayze) and his wife (played by South African actress Charlize Theron). Natasha Richardson would pass away years later but she uses her acting abilities to play Darlene with complexity rather than a Southern caricature. When you watch her here, she isn't acting royalty or her training at Central School of Drama and Speech. Her Darlene fits in with the cast. Texan Patrick Swayze who too passed away is also believable as his best friend Roy. The foursome seem to have fun in this movie about two couple spending a vacation in Reno, Nevada. Billy Bob Thornton have tried and succeeded in displaying an often ignored part of America on film. He's become one of my favorite actors, writers, and directors.
caa821 Being a fan of Billy Bob Thornton, and the diversity of his skills, I noticed this movie listed, and was surprised I hadn't heard of it.I'd traveled more than usual during both the period it was being filmed in 2000, and when it hit theaters more than 2-1/2 years later (that passage of time is the first clue all was not well with the production).Now Patrick Swayze can't act for sour apples, but Thornton has more than enough ability to make-up for the difference between them. And Charlize Theron is someone whom it would be a pleasure to see, even if it showed her watching paint dry.Being curious, I checked this site's production info. It made a whopping < $600 per screen its opening weekend, and just over $400 each, after its month's theater run in latter 2002. Overall gross was $261K, which I'd doubt could cover cast and crew's hotel and food for a week on location.The story is pretty benign, and even the use of the usually interesting locale of Reno is as dull as the rest of the goings-on.It's something like several SNL bits all pieced together, none individually too great at all, and the overall presentation even worse.Whatever, the expenses for this production had to be considerable - even if all worked for less than their usual fees - so the one thing which made it a barely tolerable opus was the quality of the filming and Billy Bob's present (albeit understandably somewhat laconic here , compared with his usual work.Think of the three superb, totally diverse characters he portrayed in "Sling Blade," "Bandits" and "Bad Santa," and you know he realized this work was below standard, long before the viewers had the opportunity to confirm this. One star for him, even here, and one because production was better than, say, the typical "Lifetime" flick.
Derek Jamison (dmj_incorporated-1) If you hate redneck accents, you'll hate this movie. And to make it worse, you see Patrick Swayze, a has been trying to be a redneck. I really can't stand redneck accents. I like Billy Bob Thornton, he was good in Slingblade, but he was annoying in this movie. And what kind of name is Lonnie Earl? How much more hickish can this movie get? The storyline was stupid. I'm usually not this judgemental of movies, but I couldn't stand this movie. If you want a good Billy Bob Thornton movie, go see Slingblade.My mom found this movie for $5.95 at Wal Mart...figures...I think I'll wrap it up and give it to my Grandma for Christmas. It could just be that I can't stand redneck accents usually, or that I can't stand Patrick Swayze. Maybe if Patrick Swayze wasn't in it. I didn't laugh once in the movie. I laugh at anything stupid usually. If they had shown someones fingers getting smashed, I might have laughed. people's fingers getting smashed by accident always makes me laugh.