Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 4, 1993 TAG: 9312070047
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ELEANOR RINGEL THE ATLANTA JOURNAL AND CONSTITUTION
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Andrei Codrescu, a transplanted Transylvanian Jew and semi-regular on National Public Radio, looks for America in this entertaining cinematic essay. What he finds is everything from Christian communists living out vows of poverty in upstate New York to suburban Sikhs living the good life in Santa Fe. It's a melting pot all right, but one, as Codrescu drolly points out, that hasn't entirely melted.
Before undertaking "the ultimate American ritual, the cross-country trip," Codrescu must first learn how to drive, something he hadn't bothered to master since moving here from Romania in 1966. That done, he climbs behind the wheel of his classic cherry-red Cadillac convertible and takes off on a New York-to-California trek.
It is an oddball odyssey from the moment he puts his key in the ignition. Among the varied roadside attractions: Ellis Island, Niagra Falls, Detroit's decaying inner city, McDonald's Hamburger U, Las Vegas's drive-in wedding chapel, various New Age eccentrics in New Mexico, the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco.
Codrescu has a good eye and an even better ear: the Biosphere in Arizona is "Disneyland for the millenium-ly distressed"; a Midwest livestock show is all about "improving the gene pool of our hamburger source."
True, there's little here that hasn't already been looked at with an ironic eye, and Codrescu's determinedly antic, the-'60s-will-rise-again point of view can be a bit too much of the same old thing. But every so often, he uncovers some hitherto hidden corner of our crazy-quilt culture that's enthralling. And the lovely coda - a citizenship ceremony where Codrescu is the guest speaker - is emblematic of the movie's wonderfully unforced optimism.
by CNB