23-year-old screw-up decides to "screw the system" by pulling bank heists across the Southwest--not for the money, but to destroy mortgage documents and home loan statements, thereby giving financially-strapped landowners a few months to catch up on their payments. While a noble cause, the young man and his accomplice-girlfriend soon find this isn't exactly a profitable way to become illegal heroes; when he eventually resorts to stealing cash, his adoring public turns on him. Clumsy and awkward directorial debut from Emilio Estevez (with help from veteran director Robert Wise), who also has the lead role and wrote the screenplay. This is the type of vanity project which begins with a baby-photo montage of its star, quickly becoming a derivative 'lovers on the run' saga for bleeding hearts. The script has enough holes to drive a gas-guzzler through, but Estevez left himself an out by concocting a jaw-dropping conclusion. It may carpet the mistakes, but it's a prank played at the viewer's expense. *1/2 from ****
Review of Wisdom
