SLINGSHOT (2005) begins with a flash forward to the climactic scene, with Taylor (Balthazar Getty) begging Ash (David Arquette) to "put down the gun, man!" as they stand on a dark, deserted city street with cop cars bearing down on them. But Ash doesn't put down the gun, man. Something's bugging him big-time, and when the police screech to a stop, he points the gun and BANG!
        Here's the bad news: in order to find out what just happened, or rather, what is going to happen at the end of the movie, you have to watch SLINGSHOT. Or maybe you could just find someone who has seen it and ask them what happens so you don't have to watch it. Just look for someone who is wandering around aimlessly in a state of extreme boredom and/or disbelief. Chances are, they've just watched SLINGSHOT.
        Now we flash back, way back, to when Taylor and Ash were little kids, and they promise each other that they'll always be friends. Ash beans a girl with his slingshot, indicating that he's a problem child. Then the little Taylor and Ash walk along kicking a rock together, and suddenly we flash forward and they're the grown-up Taylor and Ash, kicking what is probably a different rock as they hitchhike cross-country looking for cars to steal and people to rob.
        One of their favorite scams is to pick up well-to-do hockey moms who aren't getting enough of the old bone-aroo from their husbands and go home with them for some illicit s-e-x, which allows them to case the joint from the inside and make off with stuff they can fence to a beautiful Russian club owner named Fast Bobby (Svetlana Metkina). Of course, they expect Fast Bobby to be a guy upon meeting her, which is a comic idea that I first encountered during an episode of "Petticoat Junction" when I was about nine.
        Already I was beginning to form an intense dislike for these characters which would only grow stronger as the movie lurched forward. While hanging around a Little League hockey rink, Ash gives an insecure kid named Tracey the benefit of his valuable life experience while sharing a joint with him. Later on, we find that Tracey's brief, magical encounter with Ash has actually had a positive, life-changing effect on him, which is meant to be heartwarming. Ohh-kay.
        Meanwhile, Taylor is turning on the charm for a lovely hockey MILF named Karen (Julianna Margulies, who looks way better without that Brillo-head hairstyle she sported on "E.R.") and is invited back to her pad for some--heh, heh--"sex." This proves to be such a pleasant experience for Taylor that he's in no hurry to ransack the place and blow town, which makes the already unstable Ash very antsy, irritable, and, yes, jealous. Taylor's his buddy, see--the only person in the world who will have anything to do with him--and he doesn't like it when anyone else besides him gets to spend quality Taylor-time.
        Long story short, Karen turns out to have a cute 19-year-old daughter named April (Thora Birch), and when Taylor meets her, he falls head-over-heels in love