htownsteve This is one of the greatest movies from the 80's, fitting that it is 1989. It signifies the end of two eras in one film. Do NOT let the crappy "4.0" fool you. That rating signifies the 17 people on IMDb who have seen this movie. It's not on Netflix, or at Wal-mart; so no one has seen it. Hell, nobody is going to read THIS for a few years so I'm basically wasting time. FIND this movie, WATCH this movie! Great stuff!AND....for the two haters that gave the bad reviews? YOU are the ones the movie makes fun of. Get over yourself.Still doubters? What else, HTownSteve can you tell us? I say to you, Look at the cast.

Emil Bakkum The hippie theme fascinates me. Although at the time the movement was too bold for me, I keep wondering whether I may have missed something. Thanks to the IMDb I was able to discover the film Rude Awakening, for it is advocated by visitors on the message board of the film Hair. I had already watched Hair and was dissatisfied because of its distortion of the original narrative in the musical. On the other hand I really liked the Swedish film Tillsammans (Together), and appreciated Strawberry Statement. Actually the hippie movement is probably universal, although the motorcycle and camper van aspect (Easy Rider!) appears to be typically American. I guess that the European countries are too small for that. Rude Awakening is presented as a comedy, which of course is just an alternative approach to narrate dramatic events. In the story two New York hippies, Fred and Hesus, have traveled in 1969 to a fictitious Latin American state in order to found a commune in the jungle. They have embraced the soft drug culture, and make a living by growing hemp for the production of hashish. (By the way, in the Netherlands the cultivation of hemp for the production of hash is illegal but the sale of soft drugs isn't). Fred is obviously the leader of the colony, and Hesus has become an addicted zombie, who takes anything that might be hallucinatory. Although the addiction of Hesus looks hilarious, in real life it is fairly commonplace. Therefore his role is perhaps meant to be a warning signal: a history of even moderate hash consumption will lead to severe symptoms at old age. In 1989 a CIA agent is fatally wounded by the local revolutionary army, and in his last moments hands over to Fred a secret dossier about a forthcoming American invasion. Fred decides to alert the American public, and returns to New York, together with Hesus, who follows him more or less like a pet. Fred reanimates his former contact in the hippie movement, notably the former commune members Petra and Sammy. However, Petra and Sammy have done extremely well, and have made careers for themselves. It is understandable, that they are shocked to see their former acquaintances, and loathe the appearance of Hesus. But here the story takes a strange turn, because suddenly Petra and Sammy regress into their abjured hippie attitude. Clearly Rude Awakening is not meant to be a study of characters. In the mean time the FBI starts to hunt Fred in an attempt to recover the secret dossier. Here Hesus plays a heroic and illogical part, when during a gun fight he manages to disarm one of the FBI agents. The quartet decides to occupy the main building on the N.Y. university campus. From its balcony Fred informs the crowd of students about the forthcoming invasion and tries to stir a rebellion. However, the times have changed since 1969, and his speech only serves to increase the already bellicose spirit of the American people. (An old lady sighs: "We have not won something for a long time"). Fred collapses in despair, and loathes his former vegetating life in the jungle. Still he decides to return to the jungle (it remains a mystery why), but just then a group of students appeals to him for guidance in the renewal of the civil movement. This climax is apparently the definite acknowledgment of the avant-garde function of the movement of 68, and its lasting influence on society. Unfortunately Rude Awakening has too many evident weaknesses. The characters lack logic and depth, the dialogs are superficial and childish, and many of the events are absurd. Some instances may provide food for thought and meditation, like the balcony scene, where Fred asks: "How is my hair?" Remember that hair is a symbol of the movement of 68, the name of another hippie film etc. But this is just not enough for a film that pretends to be a reflection on an influential cultural and historical movement. So maybe this protest movement features as nothing more than a backcloth for jokes. Rude Awakening is too lighthearted and senseless for my taste, and I recommend Tillsammans or Strawberry Statement instead.

DeadlyWit-2 The lame gags and jokes fall flat, the actors practically phone in their lines, and the long and frequent preaching about the evils of corporations and conservatives really gets annoying. If you want to be lectured about the ozone hole, AIDS, the burning Cuyahoga River, the homeless, and the virtues of loopy 1960s-style pothead activism, then this is the movie for you. But if you want laugh-out-loud humor, then rent something else.

thehumanduvet Classic tale of two stoners dropping out to have a good time in the jungle for twenty years and then coming back to find the whole world has been taken over by a terrible sickness known as the eighties - yup, they all wear stupid clothes and talk and do a load of rubbish, while the real men from the sixties have all kiinds of trouble fitting in and showing people the value of slobbing around, caning it and having fun without dressing up like Rebecca DeMornay in Weird Science. This film carries a very important message for us all about avoiding eighties style and values, but, like the other guy said, don't watch it in a serious mood, this is a hilarious comedy classic NOT a horror flick, after all.