**_Lost hearts in New Mexico with rooms vacant_** A single mother (Brooke Adams) and her two teenage daughters (Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk) live in a bleak small town in the desert. They each struggle with the boredom of mundane life and pursue romance. "Gas Food Lodging" (1992) is part reverent coming-of-age drama, similar to the future “Dreamland,” and part aging mother looking for love in the remote American West, à la “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” Others that come to mind include: “Desert Bloom,” “What's Eating Gilbert Grape,” “Desert Blue” and “Tumbleweeds.” It’s a quality drama with a barren dust bowl milieu that creatively fleshes out the three protagonists, offering interesting insights on life in general and, especially, the pursuit of love and everything that goes with it. Unfortunately, all three females make the mistake of getting intimate on the first date, but I suppose that kind of folly is one of the real-life issues on which the film zeroes-in. It could also be argued that writer/director Allison Anders only had 1 hour and 41 minutes to tell the story and so had to condense time. Fairuza was 16 during shooting and would turn 17 in a few months. She arguably never looked better. Meanwhile Ione was 20 whereas Brooke turned 42 during the shoot. Blonde Leigh Hamilton has a small but somewhat memorable bit part. Anyway, I like the way the flick often takes the subtle route in detailing things. It’s not necessary to spell everything out when it’s all there for the viewer to discover and understand. It was shot in Deming and Las Cruces, New Mexico, which are located in the southwest side of the state. GRADE: B
