Film noir aficionados will recognize and/or expect many of the plot's contortions, since there are various requirements that have to be met by any entry of the genre. The narrative twists and turns in a serpentine fashion, rarely proceeding in a predictable or straightforward manner for more than a few minutes at a time (hence, the title). Wow! Sean Penn plays a drifter traveling to Vegas when his car gives way close to a town called Superior, Arizona, filled with weird folks. By far one of Oliver Stone´s worst films. Awful acting, awful direction, awful editing (with a nod to "Natural Born Killers") and an awful storyline. Gene Siskel reflected back in 1997 that "U Turn had the same highly stylized violence as Stone's Natural Born Killers, but without that film's intellectual content, U Turn seems like Stone's attempt at a commercial hit – and he failed, miserably." Just my point as well.
Oliver Stone´s neo-noir crime thriller with Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, and Nick Nolte is such a mess, and the film is hardly exciting nor entertaining. In the episode, Gene Siskel reflected that "U Turn the same highly stylized violence as Stone's Natural Born Killers, but without that film's intellectual content, U Turn seems like Stone's attempt at a commercial hit – and he failed, miserably."
It was also included on Siskel and Ebert's "Worst Films of 1997" episode. Rotten Tomatoes consensus reads: "U-Turn is a lurid, stylish lark that boasts striking moments but lacks the focus and weight of Oliver Stone's best work." The film was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Director (which went to Kevin Costner for The Postman) and Worst Supporting Actor (Jon Voight, also for Most Wanted ultimately, he "lost" to Dennis Rodman for Double Team). James Berardinelli rated the film three stars out of four, stating "for those who enjoy movies on the edge, U-Turn offers just the trajectory you might expect." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that it "demonstrates a filmmaker in complete command of his craft and with little control over his impulses".
Roger Ebert gave the film 1½ stars out of four, deeming it a "repetitive, pointless exercise in genre filmmaking-the kind of film where you distract yourself by making a list of the sources". Reaction by critics to the film was mixed. They separately approach Bobby to kill the other for money. Stranded and broke, he meets Jake (Nick Nolte) and Grace McKenna (Jennifer Lopez), a father and daughter who are also a married couple. Bobby Cooper (Sean Penn) is a drifter in debt to a violent gangster when his car breaks down in Superior, Arizona.