Two homeless street hustlers in Hollywood with different ideals and goals struggle through a tough night in this bleak edgy drama. It's Christmas Eve, the day before John (David Arquette) turns 21. He wants to spend that night and the next day at the expensive Park Plaza Hotel, so he ripped off a drug dealer for $300 to pay the bill. But as he's sleeping, someone steals his shoes with the money in them. Meanwhile, Donner (Lukas Haas), a hustler new to the streets, is infatuated with John and wants to leave the city with him for Camelot, a theme park in Branson, Missouri, where they can work as lifeguards. Donner admits his homosexuality, but John believes that despite his occupation he's really straight, and he has a girlfriend Mikki (Alanna Ubach) to prove it. John tries to hustle the money for the hotel and pay back drug dealer Jimmy the Warlock (Terrence Howard), keep his girlfriend placated, and figure out how to deal with Donner's friendship. They meet several street people, including Crazy Eli (Christopher Gartin) and Homeless John (Keith David), and find a few customers, ranging from a closeted businessman (Elliott Gould) to others looking for violent, dangerous sex.
"Johns" is the first feature film for former TV documentary director Scott Silver. It is intelligent and realistic, with good performances, uneven editing, out of place symbolism, and a sad and tragic ending. Charles Brown and Danny Caron composed the original music, and Scott Silver wrote the screenplay and directed.
