Something Wild

Something Wild videos

Cast & Crew

Jeff Daniels

Charles Driggs

Melanie Griffith

Audrey Hankel

Ray Liotta

Ray Sinclair

Margaret Colin

Irene

Tracey Walter

The Country Squire

Dana Preu

Peaches

Jack Gilpin

Larry Dillman

Kristin Olsen

Tracy

John Sayles

Motorcycle cop

John Waters

Used car guy

Charles Napier

Irate chef

Jonathan Demme

Director

E. Max Frye

Screenwriter

Edward Saxon

Executive Producer

Jonathan Demme

Producer

Kenneth Utt

Producer

Laurie Anderson

Original Music

David Byrne

Original Music

John Cale

Original Music

Exene Cervenka

Original Music

Danny Elfman

Original Music

Jean-Michel Jarre

Original Music

Tak Fujimoto

Cinematographer

Craig McKay

Film Editing

Risa Bramon Garcia

Casting

Billy Hopkins

Casting

Norma Moriceau

Production Design

Stephen J. Lineweaver

Art Director

Billy Reynolds

Set Decoration

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News & Interviews for Something Wild

Jonathan Demme: 1944-2017

Jeff Daniels’ 10 Best Movies

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Critic Reviews for Something Wild

Audience Reviews for Something Wild

• Jul 22, 2017

  Somehow this one passed me by and what a mistake that has been for me. The best I've ever seen Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith, they play a couple who "go wild" for a minute, taking us along for the typical romcom ride, however more comically sophisticated.The landscape is an America rarely seen in film, one that I recognized as real though it was 30 years old. Really a great film! And then Ray Liotta shows up. Jonathon Demme, the director, should go far. And a to die for soundtrack.

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  kevin w Super Reviewer
• Jul 24, 2011

  Sort of a more up to date version of 'After Hours' with a more extreme, loud and in your face storyline as Daniels is dragged from one humiliating scene to another by wild child Griffiths who at first seems determined to get Daniels into trouble. Sure enough Griffiths character slowly gets Daniels in all heaps of bother as they evade checks and steal money from stores, its kinda predictable but not as uneasy watching as 'After Hours' as its more 'out there' and regular people are less likely to do that sort of thing haha Casting is abit off for me in this as Griffiths never was much to look at in my opinion and she hardly comes across as a law breaker whilst Daniels has never really been a good actor from day one haha. Things get better acting wise when Liotta turns up as the crazy jealous ex-con but the plot gets alittle out of hand too as things go from light hearted comedy to dark and uncomfortable, as only Liotta knows how, and the film becomes less enjoyable really.

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  Super Reviewer
• Jul 08, 2011

  ONE radiantly beautiful, late spring day in lower Manhattan, Charles Driggs (Jeff Daniels), a proper young tax consultant, walks out of a lunchroom without paying his check. It's just a whim - a vestige of the rebel that exists within Charlie. The act goes unnoticed by the cashier, but not by another patron (Melanie Griffith), an eccentrically dressed young woman who wears a Louise Brooks wig of bobbed black hair and initially calls herself Lulu. The young woman (who's actually a blonde named Audrey) confronts Charlie on the sidewalk. She threatens to call the police and then, instead, offers to drive him to his office. Charlie, both unsettled and intrigued, agrees. Within two hours, Audrey has Charlie somewhere in New Jersey, in a sleazy motel room, handcuffed to the bedpost, sighing with delight as she rips off his clothes and makes love to him. This is the unlikely but hugely promising beginning of Jonathan Demme's new ''Something Wild,'' which starts off as a comedy, slips into melodrama and winds up as something of a romantic dream. In spite of all its manic shifting of gears, though, ''Something Wild'' never achieves the momentum required to make the transitions from one mood to the next with any ease. One movie ends as an entirely different one begins. ''Something Wild,'' which opens today at the Baronet and other theaters, is often ''Something Wrong.'' Audrey, it turns out, has identified Charlie as a kindred spirit and has kidnapped him to take him home to Virginia, to introduce him (as her husband) to her mother and to be her escort at her high school reunion. All goes well until Audrey's real husband, Ray (Ray Liotta), a psychotic, small-town hood, turns up at the same reunion. What happens subsequently is a sort of provincial version of Griffin Dunne's nightmare in ''After Hours.'' As he demonstrated in ''Handle With Care'' and ''Melvin and Howard,'' Mr. Demme has a singular gift for offbeat comedy. When ''Something Wild'' is dealing with the burgeoning relationship between the once-uptight Charlie and the sweetly desperate, near-alcoholic Audrey, the film has the manner of a screwball comedy designed for the 1980's. It's full of quirky lines and characters, including Audrey's old-shoe, resolutely unshockable mother (Dana Preu), called Peaches. It's also full of dead ends and red herrings. As written, Audrey would seem to be a most unlikely fan of Louise Brooks, and I can only believe that when, late in the film, we see her reading a book about Winnie Mandela, it's supposed to be a sight-gag. The performances are, without exception, good. Mr. Daniels, best remembered for his role as the disconnected actor in Woody Allen's ''Purple Rose of Cairo,'' and Miss Griffith, who sometimes sounds eerily like Judy Holliday, play - when allowed - with the sort of earnest intensity that is the basis of comedy at its best. Mr. Liotta,here a newcomer, nearly walks off with his sections of the film, while Miss Preu, who was so fine in Victor Nunez's ''Gal Young Un,'' actually does. Almost as good are the other members of the supporting cast, including Jack Gilpin, Charles Napier and Mr. Demme's fellow directors, John Sayles and John Waters, who do cameos. 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 who, in one way and another, are supposed to make it all happen. Missing is the impulse for what we are led to believe is the liberating behavior of Audrey and Charlie. They are so dimly written that they must be characterized entirely in terms of the actors' performances, the clothes they wear and the soundtrack music. Because that's not good enough, there is no real payoff. By the end of ''Something Wild,'' you may well ask, ''So what?'' BREAKING OUT SOMETHING WILD

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  Super Reviewer
• Jul 07, 2011

  Before eccentric love stories were popularized by hipsters and Michael Cera, there was Something Wild, a dangerous, insanity ridden, lustful adventure, from the mind of Jonathan Demme. The story revolves around yuppie Charlie, and indelicate Lulu, road tripping from New York to Pennsylvania, without any explanation on Lulu's part. As Charlie is seduced and easily manipulated into committing crimes and riding along with the odd Lulu, we ourselves are dejecting reality for a couple hours and falling in love with a nut job incapable of being rational. Once Lulu's true identity is revealed, and an unsavory husband, the story takes a dramatic turn, that of abuse and obsession, perpetrated by the always dark and comically insane Ray Liotta. Between the reggae covers featured in an almost diegetic way, and the bouts of incessant violence by Lulu and Ray, it's a movie split between two different plots, or more likely, personalities. Wild in every sense of the word, this is definitely perfect casting for Griffith, who is basically portraying herself, and Daniels, who is always good for a semi-gullible and yet so charismatic lead. Great road movie, great romantic drama/comedy, this is something wild.

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  Super Reviewer