The third film in Demme's Small-Town America trilogy (the other two are Handle With Care and Melvin and Howard) centers on a new screen type, the yuppie (played to perfection by Jeff Daniels); change of tone from comedy to horror is tough but well-earned
Something Wild (1986)
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:24
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.1/10
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels star in this quirky road movie from director Jonathan Demme (MARRIED TO THE MOB, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS). Charlie Driggs (Daniels) is a timid New York investment... Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels star in this quirky road movie from director Jonathan Demme (MARRIED TO THE MOB, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS). Charlie Driggs (Daniels) is a timid New York investment broker who lets himself be abducted during his lunch hour by an attractive nut named Lulu (Griffith). While drunk, she drives him to a New Jersey hotel for some kinky sex and petty thievery, and later convinces him to accompany her to Pennsylvania and pose as her husband at her high school reunion. More misadventures ensue, and Charlie gradually finds himself loosening up and falling in love, but then the film makes a sudden left turn with the appearance of Ray (Ray Liotta), Lulu's real husband--a violent ex-convict. As the film's tone oscillates from lightheartedness to darkness, Demme's affection for his characters never wavers, and he keeps things moving with a jubilant soundtrack of global music and a roster of cameo appearances that include directors John Waters and John Sayles, and musicians the Feelies and Sister Carol. It's a comedy, it's a drama, it's a look at the pleasures and dangers of stepping outside the norm, in life and in film. [More]
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta, Margaret Colin
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta, Margaret Colin, Tracey Walter, Su Tissue, Charles Napier
Director: Jonathan Demme
Director: Jonathan Demme
Screenwriter: E. Max Frye
Producer: Kenneth Utt, Edward Saxon
Composer: John Cale, Laurie Anderson
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Reviews for Something Wild
Demme keeps his quirky narrative twisting and turning so that the viewer can never predict what will happen next.
Jonathan Demme's picaresque joyride across the American landscape is still arguably the best thing he's ever done.
Demme observes the human eccentricity that underlies the corner-store banalities of Middle America with warmth and loving detail; while a magnificent rock soundtrack and faultless performances from Daniels, Griffith and Liotta ensure pleasures galore.
An offbeat comedy with an appreciation for the seductions and dangers of sexual thrill-seeking.
The film's principal difficulty is E. Max Frye's original screenplay, which is better thought out in terms of its narrative than of the characters.
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