This is a quirky road trip film based on a country-rock legend that happens to be true. In the very first scene of the movie, Gram Parsons dies, from then on his road manager/right-hand man/best friend spends the rest of the film trying to fulfill a blood-brothers promise. Namely, the living friend will cremate the remains of the first to pass on. That burning is to be done in the Joshua Tree desert (an area that they both loved).

I've been to Joshua tree desert, not sure why they loved it - nor did the film give me any reason to. While one can appreciate a production that jumps right in, the shots of Johnny Knoxville in the desert draw attention to his unique (but insignificant) motor-tricycle more than they do the beauty of the desert. So this is an area that could have rather easily been improved.

But this is essentially a comedy. Yes, there are one or two heartfelt moments ... but the film is chock-full of fun wisecracks, ironies and otherwise quirky oddities. Huge kudos to Michael Shannon who plays "The hippie," he's believable & loveable as the pseudo-enlightened junkie. Shannon carries the film. I also enjoy Robert Forster wherever I see him. While Johnny is just plain likeable (on screen and off), he's an actor who's still learning a lot about the profession. I think he'll be very skilled at it somewhere down the line, but for now ... average + heart works well enough.

Speaking of heart, the film could have taken much more advantage of its own intrinsic warm heart. Still, with the feel of a project that was put together with more fun and passion than money and time, "Grand Theft" goes a good distance.

1. The real life road manager (Phil Kaufman) says of Knoxville, "It takes a smart *ss to play a smart *ss." (Kaufman lent Knoxville his jacket for the film).

2. Interestingly enough, the film is funded by Wall Street traders who felt a bond with the film's theme (they both had close friends that died in the Twin Towers attack). (They named the production company after those friends.)

3. The film is shot at authentic locations -- including the motel room in which Parsons died.