Academy Award nominee Dennis Hopper stars in Road Ends as a small-town police chief who has a crush on fellow small-town resident and Academy Award nominee Mariel Hemingway, who finds herself attracted to a mysterious drifter (co-producer and Academy Award nominee Chris Sarandon) who takes up residence at her bed-and-breakfast. Who exactly is Sarandon? And what does he want? Hopper is intent on finding the answers, as is non-Academy Award nominee Peter Coyote, playing a dirty cop with a few secrets of his own. As can probably be surmised from its portentous title, Road Ends is a pretentious small-town drama about middle-aged outsiders who have reached both the metaphorical and literal end of the road in their lives. For its first hour or so, it's an agreeably slow-paced small-town drama, largely because of the quiet but effective performances of its four leads. But in its last half-hour, it heads downhill, lurching toward a lazily familiar climax involving the usual out-of-town baddies intent on leaving a bloodbath in their wake. Road Ends does, however, feature performances by not one, not two, but three Academy Award nominees, so those who enjoy watching random Academy Award honorees act alongside each other and just can't wait for the video release of Instinct should find much to like about this otherwise unremarkable film.