Road movie

Another in a series of films I only saw the end of:

In a gas station, Mary Steenburgen is talking crazy talk at a bunch of country bumpkins. Frustrated, she steps outside into the desert and sees the kid from the Sixth Sense drive by really fast in a convertible. A man is stuck upside down in the back seat, yelling and waving his legs around. Mary Steenburgen panics, jumps into her car, and chases after them.

Quotes from the first moon landing are cut in throughout these scenes, “Tranquillity base, the Eagle has landed.” It’s not clear if the characters are hearing this over the car radio, or if these are dubbed in for dramatic purposes.

The kid approaches the end of the road and we see a sign that says, “Crater National Monument”. “I can do this,” he says, as he presses down on the gas and makes other non-specific adjustments.

Meanwhile, the man in the backseat has righted himself. It is Ted Danson (Mary Steenburgen’s real life husband). He has picked-out curly hair. He looks up and sees that they’re approaching the crater. We know it’s not simply a crater because he yells out “Oh no, the crater!”.

“We can do it,” the kid yells.

It becomes clear that they’re going to try to jump the crater. Ted Danson pulls the kid into the back seat and hugs him. The car lands inside the crater with a crash.

Mary Steenburgen pulls up and the three of them are reunited. There’s some awkwardness between Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. The kid says something cute though, and they tentatively decide to stick together. They speed away.

We cut to a half dozen police cars, sirens wailing, tearing along the desert highway. The sheriff says something to underscore that he’s a backwater hick.

Now a few more words from Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

Back to our heroes: Ted Danson is driving, Mary Steenburgen keeps calling him “Washington”. They stop when they reach a big body of water.

“Washington, what’s on the other side of that lake?” We get the impression that she already knows the answer to the question.

“Canada,” he says.

They discuss among themselves whether or not they should do something. They’re not sure if it’ll work, but they decide to give it a try. Ted Danson pulls off the road. (A few more moon landing samples.)

They drive through the dust and slow down a little as they reach the edge of the lake. They drive along on top of the water. Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen smile broadly at each other.

Neil Armstrong climbing out of his spacecraft (this time with visuals) onto the surface of the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

About halfway across, Ted Danson reaches over the edge and splashes a little water. The kid from the Sixth Sense looks straight up and cups his ears listening, listening to the sky.

We get a long shot of the lake. Our heroes are driving their car on the lake. The flashing lights of the police cars are just arriving.