The two of them spend their first night together in the honeymoon suite of a roadside motel, where they smoke pot, have sex, and proclaim deep love for one another.
The film had a limited theatrical run at Facets Multimedia in Chicago, released on DVD through iFilm, and distributed digitally by Giant Pictures.
[4] [5] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times was an early champion of the film, he gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising its humor and emotional impact, calling it “bold, fresh, and totally original.
"[9] Joshua Land of the Village Voice said “unabashedly movie-conscious and quietly formalist, Gilio’s allusive yet original Kwik Stop nails the details,” [10] while Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune called Kwik Stop “a funny, evocative and constantly surprising low budget anti-road movie.
One of the year’s best American indies; you won’t forget it soon.” [11] Despite its positive reception, Kwik Stop is not well-known, its struggle for wider distribution detailed in Charles Taylor’s Slate article, The Genius of Kwik Stop: “an indie scene that can find no place for a Kwik Stop because it has no stars, because it is too original, is an indie scene that should be taken behind the barn with a shotgun.”[12] Gilio was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2001 as "Someone to Watch", and won the "Best Director" prize at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema.