christopher-underwood
It is clear this is going somewhere different from the very beginning and we go beyond the usually seen New York from the water into lesser but more interesting stretches. This quirky, off centre viewpoint is continued throughout the film although so much is happening with our main characters in this crazy take on a road movie that it is not always apparent. Constantly confounding one's expectations, this is a very exciting and occasionally worrying film. Jeff Daniels is surprisingly good and gets better as the film progresses, Melanie Griffith is great throughout and the only thing that prevents me giving this a full score and indicating that i would happily sit right down and watch it again straight away is........Ray Liotta. Now, is this guy scary in this or is he not the most scary character ever? Great to look at thanks to wonderful cinematography - street signs, shops fronts, odd buildings, the lot - this also has to be the film with the very best soundtrack in the 80s. Averse though I usually am to the music in films of this period, this has one of the greatest picture/music combinations ever - and that includes the later work of Tarantino, who just has to have been influenced by this gem. A must see but try and prepare yourself for the appearance of Mr Ray Liotta.
gavin6942
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.
gedhurst
Rewatching Something Wild recently some 30 years after I first saw it, I was struck by how vividly the craziness of the story stayed in my memory, but also how surprising and unexpected the plot turns were. This is a good sign that that someone took time to craft an excellent plot. In fact, the film makers have lavished tender loving care on every aspect of this film and given it a lot of heart.Melanie Griffith does everything but set the screen on fire as she takes Jeff Daniel's humdrum office worker life and turns it upside down. We're then taken on a helter-skelter anything-goes trip where the couple leave the city and the staid conventions of middle class life behind as they plunge into a passionate affair and journey deep into the comforting familiarity of small town America with its motels, folksy shops and and kindly people. Ironically this is where the greatest danger lurks in the shape of old flame Ray Liotta, grinning maniacally and flipping the madcap whimsy into insane violence.Every minor character on this trip fills you with good vibes, in sharp contrast to the sinister kind of twist that current-day Hollywood mainstream gives to bit players. The soundtrack, for fans of 80s music, is fantastic - you're bound to hear stuff you haven't heard for ages.This film works on many levels: the actors are charming and charismatic, and their parts are well and sympathetically written. It's a loving memoir of a materialistic decade that many thought was money-obsessed but was filled with many hapless characters like this reviewer who lived similar episodes in their own lives: except not so wild!
Scott LeBrun
Jeff Daniels plays Charles Driggs, a straight arrow yuppie who decides one day to skip out on his cheque for lunch. A stranger, "Lulu" (Melanie Griffith), notices this, and correctly surmises that he's a "closet rebel" kind of guy. He's the perfect guy whom she can fit into her plans, so she sort of "abducts" him and makes him pose as her husband. However, the guy whom she is actually still married to, an ex-convict named Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta, in his breakthrough film performance) shows up, and things take an uglier turn.As written by E. Max Frye and directed by the talented veteran Jonathan Demme, "Something Wild" is engaging for quite a while. It manages to be pretty zany in spirit, and somewhat unpredictable. Daniels, who's often made a career out of playing straight arrow types, and the kooky, delightful Griffith, who sports a brunette wig at first, work decidedly well together. One is amused by their misadventures and wondering what sort of mess that Lulu will next create for Charles. However, the film is somewhat overlong, and changes tone for its second half for a much more conventional narrative of Ray dominating the proceedings and occasionally terrorizing Charles. (Not to mention Charles taking quite a shine to Lulu and refusing to let her go without some sort of fight.)Fortunately, Daniels and Griffith are so utterly engaging that they make this trip worthwhile. Liotta is a powerhouse in the role of the volatile husband; I'm sure that back then, theatre goers and critics alike could see that this guy was going places. Lovely Margaret Colin is good in an underwritten role, and is unceremoniously dropped from the story. One other complaint that this viewer had was that this cast features some top notch character players - Tracey Walter, Charles Napier, Robert Ridgely - and director cameos (John Sayles as a motorcycle cop, John Waters as a used car salesman), and then makes such brief use of them. One might wish that they had more to do.The eclectic soundtrack is solid accompaniment for this generally agreeable movie. It may not move that well, but it does come up with some very nice moments along the way.Seven out of 10.
AD
