Alcoholic wannabe writer Walter Pool (Eric Roberts) gets in over his head in Mexico when he is hired to kill someone for $100,000 for a local bad guy (Joaquim de Almeida). I was so impressed with Jack Perez's The Big Empty (1997) that I immediately sought the next feature by director Perez and writer James McManus. Believe it or not, this is even better than their previous film. It goes in directions you will never expect/guess and has some twisted dark comedy. Perez and DP Shawn Maurer capture Mexico amazingly well...which is pretty incredible as they shot the whole thing in California. Best of all, the film is a great showcase for Roberts. It was one of four features he had released that year (slow year for him, no doubt) and he gives a fantastic performance the reminds you why he was one of the hailed young talents in the 1980s.
Review of La Cucaracha
