Something Wild (1986)

I first came across this film unexpectedly while flipping channels late at night in a motel room and was captivated by the contrast of light-hearted "throw caution to the wind" and increasingly dark shadow that builds as the story progresses and things get real.After 20 years of not thinking of this film, I recently watched it again expecting that this would be now feel like a superficial and dated "80's movie". I was wrong -- it's still amazing.There are elements which at first offer a simplistic interpretation (one can't help but think "This guy Charlie Briggs is such a dork!") But there is much more going on in the layers below... you start to see this genuine goodness and love emerging, you see that the harmless yuppie is more aware that he lets on and also has his secrets. You see how this "personality" is only superficial (just like with LuLu, and many of her attention-grabbing character traits / ornaments). The film comes dangerously close to letting characters sing into 80's stereotypes, but luckily saves itself as these characters games with themselves are revealed.Some people have given this really bad reviews, but I suspect it just speaks to some and not to others... for me there is a reality depicted in this film which is enchanting, exhilarating and horrifyingly real. The story weaves together fear, hope, struggles with the desire to be "safe" with the dream of hosing it all and the consequences of our actions.SPOILER:My only complaint is with the bloody ending... the solution to just kill this Ray character doesn't do the film justice. I would have hoped for something more creative than cheap violence to end that chapter of their life.

A free-spirited woman (Melanie Griffith) "kidnaps" a yuppie (Jeff Daniels) for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-convict husband (Ray Liotta) shows up.Ray Liotta is the saving grace of this film. I am not sure how he got typecast as thugs over the course of his career, but he is awfully good at playing them, here included. He saves the film, because Jeff Daniels really offers nothing special. I don't tend to think of him as a great actor, though he has his moments ("Escanaba")... and this is not one of them.Then there is Melanie Griffith, who seems to enjoy playing prostitutes in movies and getting naked as often as possible. I shouldn't complain about that, but she's nothing special as an actress. Have I said "nothing special" too many times? Well, that is how I feel about this.

I generally don't care for old films. I understand how some people love them, but mostly they are not for me. The acting is too campy and overdone and something in my brain can't let go enough to enjoy the story because of it.That aside, I really liked this film, maybe because it doesn't really seem dated. If not for the obvious difference in film and filming techniques and the clothes, this could have been released yesterday. It is a story of 2 very different people that meet in a New York deli on a sunny afternoon and soon turns into a thrilling action/drama with great twists and turns! Part road trip movie, it tells of the eccentric/Gothic "LULU* (*Griffiths' character when we first meet her) and straight-laced Jeff Daniels' "Charlie" who are complete strangers yet become fast lovers and experience 3 days of total freedom and chaos. You easily get caught up in their adventures too. Enter Ray Liotta who is fantastic. So handsome and young. Lol. Well, let's just say things go from fun to dangerous. This is MELANIE GRIFFITHS strongest role to date. I wish she would've won some award for her performance. With a strong supporting cast and a great story line, this is a really good movie that everyone should see.

It was a pretty disappointing experience. I guess the director had no clear idea about the story he wants to tell. Female character was described in a quite sloppy way. First she is a self-confident woman who sees no problem in violating all types of norms and rules and then she becomes a woman who is so defensive about many things and almost inert. Her resoluteness and courage go away, and her strong attitude is replaced by a passive one. Meeting with Ray does not seem sufficient to me in explaining the whole transformation. I am also frustrated by Melaine Griffith's acting. I guess she fails to make either sides of her character come alive. She plays both parts in a surprisingly similar way. So much so that, one can easily see the commonalities between Lulu and Tess McGill in the Working Girl, which is another terrible movie of hers.Apart from acting (by the way, i should say that it is not only Griffith; Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta are equally bad in this movie, too) I think there is a bigger problem about the story which in fact makes the acting to appear even worse. I am not sure if Demme's intention was to combine a romantic comedy with a short thriller in order to play with the boundaries of the genre of romantic comedy. If it was his idea, he managed to do it but the result is quite bad. I do not understand the value of cheesy romantic comedies, so I am having difficulties in understanding why it does matter to play push its boundaries. At the end of the day, this movie is a non-entertaining romantic comedy ends with happy-ending with some extra action in the middle.Final remarks on Criterion Collection. I watched this movie mainly because they published it. I usually like the movies in their collection, but this was one of the few movies that disappointed me. My disappointment was bigger probably because my expectations were higher. I will continue watching their movies, I hope I do not bump into a major failure like this any more.