los angeles physician tom reed ( vincent ventresca ) survive a tragic auto accident but end up go to prison in the high desert of california . when his time be up he land in a small and wind swept town name purgatory flat . his first stop be a bar and where he quickly slam a beer and get hire a a bartender . so much for ex con have a tough time find work . this be the first in a long line of absurdity that make up the plot of writer or director harris do silly attempt at modern and desert set and film noir . his first night on the job tom meet a sexy femme fatal name sunny ( alexandra holden ) and who hang out with a family of bad boy represent the mecklins and consist of uncle dean ( gregg henry ) and his two nephew and the drug addict owen ( kevin alejandro ) and who be sunny husband and and awol soldier randy ( 90210s brian austin greer ) . after his shift be finish there a shooting and and dr. tom just happen to be nearby . he agree to treat one of the wounded and and most importantly and not tell the cop . i be not sure that a good move for a guy fresh out of the pen and but this script ( co write by diane fine ) have very little to do with logic . tom make a series of poor decision that get him far and far entangle with the criminally inclined mecklin boy and include steal medical supply and hop into the sack with sunny . everybody in the theater be scream and don not do it . walk away and but tom do it anyway . in a classic film noir like body heat or double indemnity we root for and empathize with william hurt and fred mcmurray a they get suck into the web of bright and sexy and devious femme fatals like kathleen turner and barbara stanwyck . it not their fault . we would probably be tempt by all that money or that particular dame and too . but dr. tom weakness seem to stem from stupidity more than circumstance . sunny be sexy but not a very compelling character and and there no money to tempt him . youre leave wonder if he attend the same medical school a dr. nick riveria from the simpson . the silly script would have you believe that a redneck rural home have almost everything you need to treat a gunshot to the stomach and and that one so wounded could easily hop to attention and effectively participate in a fist fight . it give u an implausible car chase with one of those the club thing clamp to the steer wheel . oh and that oil tanker that just explode no one notice that . i wonder how such a ridiculous script ever get green light . perhaps brian austin greer have more juice than i give him credit for . it obvious that he take the relatively small role of randy a hot head murder to show producer that he have more acting range than he display on 90210. it also sort of sad to see nicholas turturro play a stereotypical hispanic drug dealer . he deserve good than this . if you have an iq over 50 and purgatory flat will have you shake your head in disbelief . i will give it 3 star for the unintentional laugh and the scene with the sexy miss holden run around in her red panty .