Rarely have television-made movies explored misguided youth so well as in "Off The Minnesota Strip". Mare Winningham gets to utilize her full-range as an actress, portraying a young runaway who is forced to return home to her confused, exhausted parents and go back to school. Mare Winningham is tender, stubborn, annoying, maddeningly smart but easily swayed. She's an exciting presence on the screen, singing "Just My Imagination" in the police station or auditioning for the school play. The parents, played by Hal Holbrook and Michael Learned, are pretty much the standard forehead-rubbers that we usually get in youth movies, and Holbrook's line-readings are occasionally overwrought, but the film is extremely well-directed and presented.
Review of Off the Minnesota Strip
