Something Wild (1986)

I love this movie so much

I'll tell you why so serious

A Disappointing Continuation

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

"Something Wild" was a shock when I discovered it, so I saw it 4 times again with all my friends. Everybody loved it. Story of a poor devil (Jeff Daniles) who meets a crazy sensual girl (Melanie Griffith), but her ex boy friend (Ray Liotta) suddenly appears, and the sweet little adventure becomes a nightmare.This movie is absolutely perfect. The casting is outstanding : Jeff Daniels as the square, Melanie Griffith as the naughty girl (listen and enjoy her voice) and Ray Liotta as the amazing threatening very bad boy. In fact, there are two parts : a comedy without Ray Liotta, and a dark revenge story with Ray Liotta. And all this evolution is followed by a rich musical score : composition by John Cale and Laurie Anderson, appropriate choice of songs between the two parts, and the apparition of The Feelies. Jonathan Demme loved pop music and we feel it all through this movie (and also in his career, watch "Stop Making Sense", with its incredible construction).Don't forget the cameos of friends : John Waters, John Sayles, Buzz Kilman, Charles Napier, ..."Something Wild" is Jonathan Demme's masterpiece, a pure trip you can watch again and again.

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.

Director Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild" more than lives up to its title. This frolicking, road trip melodrama about coincidences and happenstances features a slippery-fingered bohemian babe, a staid businessman, and a psychotic criminal on the lam. Charlie Driggs (Jeff Daniels of "Terms of Endearment") neglects to pay his bill one day, and a complete stranger, Lulu (Melanie Griffith of "Crazy in Alabama"), confronts him about it outside of the restaurant. Afterward, Lulu takes the hopelessly conventional Charlie on a wild ride that concludes with her handcuffing him to a bed in a sleazy motel, tearing off his clothes, and having sex with him. Impulse prompts them to careen off with Charlie still wearing the cuffs. Eventually, they collide with Lulu's ex, a sadistic, uninhibited parolee, Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta of "Goodfellas"), who epitomizes recklessness. The first half of the action depicts the lunacy of Charlie and Lulu right down to an impromptu meeting with Lulu's mother, while the second half waxes conventional with Ray and his criminal exploits. Liotta steals the show with an electrifying performance as an unhinged, gun-toting, ex-convict on parole. He is a force to be reckoned with and shows no qualms of giving into his violent urges. Ray makes a hypnotic villain and the confrontation between Daniels and he at the former's suburban residence will have you screaming for Ray's death. The thing about "Something Wild" is its unpredictable passion. You don't have any idea where it is going, even when it turns formulaic during its second half. Melanie Griffith has no compunctions about appearing naked in motel room scene where she straddles Daniels on a bed after she cuffs him to it.

Newly promoted vice-president Charles Driggs meets free-spirited "Lulu" after cheating a restaurant for fun.Lulu offers a ride for him in her convertible but she "abducts" Charles and they go to a motel in New Jersey, where they spend the night together.Next morning, she heads to her hometown in Pennsylvania to spend the weekend with Charlie. When they arrive in her mother's home, she discloses her real name - "Audrey Hankel" - to him and she tells her mother that Charlie is her husband.They go to her high school reunion posing as husband and wife.But Audrey's ex-husband Ray Sinclair that has just been released from prison on parole meets her in the party.After a while, Ray becomes violent, he hits Charlie, and he kidnaps Audrey. But Charlie does not intend to give up on her...Having not seen this movie for over twenty years, i did not know what to expect, as I was young then, and didn't really get the connotations.While it still feels freah today and highly original, one cannot help but think that it takes a while to get going.The first act is the zany comedy, and it really hits you as much as it does Charlie, what is happening to him, and why? The second act is the romance, as soon as Griffith changes her hair, it changes her personality and the personality of the film.And then once we are introduced to Ray, the film turns dark instantly. I have never seen an entrance by a character that can change a films atmosphere in literally a second. One moment, you feel like Charlie is finally getting the upper hand in life, and then Liotta changes everything Liotta is easily the best thing about this film, as his cold glare and psychopathic tendencies really make this film something else. If somebody had left the room for twenty minutes and came, they would honestly think they were watching a different movie.Daniels and Griffith are fun, and really make the film more endearing, but it does sometimes feel mixed up and a little schizophrenic.But the film can never be called boring, because it does entertain, especially seeing and pointing out all the cameos.