Upon discovering that a young woman he likes named "Venna" (Leelee Sobieski) has just split up with her boyfriend, "Lewis" (Paul Walker) offers to drive from California to Colorado so that they can travel together to their hometown in New Jersey. But first he has to swing by Utah to pick up his brother "Fuller" (Steve Zahn) who has just gotten in trouble and is due to get out of jail soon. That being said, after picking his brother up in Utah, Fuller buys a CB radio and on the way the two of them decide to play a prank on a trucker by having Lewis pretend to be a female and inviting the trucker to a hotel room--which happens to be occupied by a complete jerk they encountered in the lobby. Not long afterward, the person in the hotel room is almost beaten to death which requires the police to investigate the two of them as potential suspects. Although they confess to the police about their practical joke and are subsequently released, rather than letting the matter drop they once again anger the truck driver on their CB who now becomes obsessed with trying to kill them—but upon picking up Venna she becomes as much of a target as they are. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a suspenseful movie which began to lose more and more credibility the longer it ran. The principle reasons for this was because the trucker not only seemed to be able to appear in more than one place at a time but he was also capable of anticipating everything in advance. It just wasn't realistic. Despite all of that, I thought that the suspense was adequate enough to carry this film and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Joyride, although pretty far fetched, is a white hot highway set thriller in the vein of The Hitcher or Duel, that jabs in all the right places for wonderfully cheap thrills and a trashy, almost midnite movie style aesthetic that's refreshing. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and at the same time shows us unrelentingly grim events unfolding that might actually be possible, walking a steady tightrope between camp and genuine fear. Paul Walker, that handsome devil, plays Lewis, a nice guy on a road trip with his screw up ex con brother Fuller (eternally goofy Steve Zahn in full ham mode). They are making their way across the southwest to pick up Venna (Leelee Sobieski), Lewis's friend, which he plans to change. Also along for the ride is an old CB radio that Fuller hauls along for his own amusement, listening in on trucker jargon tossed across the airwaves. Soon they stumble on an ominous frequency, presided over by a growling denizen with the moniker 'Rusty Nail'. Something's clearly not quite right with this weirdo, but being the dumbbells they are, they foolishly play a pretty mean prank on him over the air, causing him to snap. Rusty Nail isn't just some lonely trucker, but a belligerent, unforgiving psychopath, and worse, he's smart. He launches a backroad crusade to torment and psychologically intimidate the two of them, continuing on when they meet up with Venna. The voice of Rusty Nail is provided by one other than veteran cowboy Ted Levine, using his guttural, menacing drawl to wonderful effect, and hitching the movie up a few notches just by doing so. Telling you to put the lotion in the basket is nothing compared to the threats we get to hear him utter here. Walker, Zahn and Sobieski hold up their end well enough, but are mostly there to be frantic, idiotic bullseye targets for the unseen monster trawling the interstate after them through the night. Much of it is silly and stretches the boundaries of credibility, but it's all in wicked good fun, and always has a knowing sense of what it takes to make a high concept, low morale style thriller work. Just remember... Rusty Nail needs to find Candy Cane.

This is an amazing film in the genre of suspense - this is one reason I love some movies: climax of some human senses - I admit that the first time I saw the movie (about 12 or 13 years ago) , it was for me an experience full of suspense, fear and adrenaline: pure entertainment in two words - the plot seems simple: a joke in the CB radio to an unknown trucker (with an amazing voice) leads to an endless living nightmare for our 'heroes' in the film - this experience they 'll live (and we live with them) will not be so simple ... be careful because you never know with whom you may talking to ! Well , there is no need to learn here more for the plot , the issue is simple for the lovers of this genre : if you have not seen it yet (and I envy you very much for that!), you should immediately find it , rent it and watch it or much better buy it and keep it at home (because surely you 'll want to watch it again and again...) . Enjoy !!!

From the beginning "Joy Ride" tries to entertain and thrill viewers with it's simple storyline which really effective. The movie is mostly about journey of 2 guys making fun with wrong stranger at their CB radio that would cause them many troubles. The first 20 minutes is more like comedy movie which bringing laugh especially when Steve Zahn involved. Then the rest minutes would keep audience interested and sometimes increased heartbeat to see what are going to happen to the three main characters. Overall "Joy Ride" is a smart thriller combining with some dark comedies that would give a 97 minutes full of enjoyable ride experience.