This unusual and highly original road movie looks at the mixed fortunes of a couple of street hustlers: River Phoenix, as a sex-for-hire male prostitute, who suffers from narcolepsy - falling asleep at a second's notice - and Keanu Reeves as the wealthy bisexual son of Portland's mayor, and the object of Phoenix's unrequited love. It was a brave choice of role for Phoenix, despite the credentials of the director, Gus Van Sant, who had already transformed the career of fellow teen pin-up Matt Dillon with Drugstore Cowboy and he brought to the role his trademark honesty and simplicity. Actually, for a film about two gay hustlers, Idaho contains very little sex. But the unsavoury milieu might be enough to have more sensitive viewers reaching for the channel switch. Those who stick with it will discover a highly personal vision brimming over with passages of intriguing hallucinatory effects.


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