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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 43332
Released: June 5, 2001 |
| Our Price: $10.19 |
| Used Price: $12.42 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
'reckless romance, comedy and a wild-side ride [you] won't soon forget (Newsday)! Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith and Ray Liotta star in this classic comedy thriller about losing yourself, finding your heart and kidnapping a date for your high-school reunion! Nominated* for three Golden Globe awards, Something Wild captures the giddy exhilaration of jumping into a car, hitting the road [and] chucking it all (LA Herald-Examiner)! Mild-mannered Charlie Driggs (Daniels) thinks he's a closet rebeluntil he meets a real one. Sexy, free-spirited and totally reckless, Lulu (Griffith) hijacks Charlie for an outrageous spree filled with offbeat sex, petty larceny and hilarious mayhem. But when Lulu's psychotic ex-con husband Ray (Liotta) puts the brakes on their joyride, Charlie suddenly realizes that his walk on the wild side may not only cost him his job and his girlfriendit just might cost him his lifein this wonderfully zesty romantic thriller full of unexpected plot curves (New York Daily News)! *1986: Actress: Melanie Griffith; Actor: Jeff Daniels; Supporting Actor: Ray Liotta
Description of Something Wild:
Jonathan Demme's sexy 1986 road comedy, a story about the liberation of a stuffed-shirt businessman (Jeff Daniels) by a free-spirited punkette (Melanie Griffith), looks better and better as the years go by. By dressing Griffith in a bowl-cut black wig and giving her character the resonant nickname Lulu, Demme establishes a clear link with G.W. Pabst's 1928 Louise Brooks melodrama Pandora's Box--except that in this case the influence of a sexual free spirit is not seen as malign or corrupting. The turning point comes when the girl's hard-edged manner is discarded along with the wig and the nickname: Lulu turns into Audrey, a touchingly vulnerable, fluffy blonde. Ray Liotta, making his first big splash as Audrey's ex-con ex-husband, a hot-wired collection of homicidal tics, personifies the menacing aspects of the "wild side" of life. The intensity of the final showdown between Daniels and Liotta startles some viewers, but it provides a needed catharsis. The film's glorious soundtrack album featuring David Byrne's peppy title track became a hit in its own right, and is still readily available. --David Chute
Something Wild Reviews:
something silly 
2009-09-12 - This movie should be titled "Something Silly". I'm not sure what it was supposed to be about. Melanie plays a dingbat. Jeff playes a work aholic with a secret, and Ray plays a really creepy ex boyfriend. Ray is worth the price of the movie. He is really young and really handsom. You believe his part of a dangerous crazy. Melanie is totally un-likeable. Jeff is as funny as ever. I'm not sure I would buy this movie again or even watch it again.
High Def 
2009-09-12 - I remember seeing this waaaay back when it was in theaters. One of those incredibly under-rated cinematic gems. What I liked most about it was the transition from a seemingly lighthearted Indie-ish goofball romantic comedy, to dead on noir. I caught this recently on a High-Def channel on cable. All I can say is WOW ! It was like I was seeing it for the first time, Déjà vu all over again. This film deserves a Blu-ray release, preferably packed with extra features, commentaries etc.
best film of the mid eighties?
2009-08-29 - this film knocks me out every time I see it. the acting is great and the story so different and original. Jonathon Demme really knew his stuff. Generally an all round brilliant effort and an unlauded gem in the opinion of yours truly.
Nearly 25 years old and better than ever...
2009-07-06 - Everything seems to have gone right here -- from the unpretentious comedy that Jonathan Demme used to specialize in directing, to the original story by E. Max Frye, to the excellent work of Tak Fujimoto, Gary Goetzman, and the rest of the crew from that era. One of the interesting things about Something Wild is that it really gets a lot of traction dramatically and most of the comedy doesn't consist of one-liners but original, funny situations. The actors earned their paychecks: Melanie Griffith is incredibly endearing in this role, Jeff Daniels has never been better, and once Ray Liotta shows up the film takes on an entirely different energy.
I would warn you not to watch this with your friends who think "Family Guy" and other post-2000 comedy is the greatest stuff ever made. This film is definitely not for people who want obvious pop-culture references and extreme caricatures -- Something Wild is too good to be wasted on people wanting just a bunch of cheap laughs.
Classic
2009-06-19 - How this movie isn't better known is just a mystery....work of art from start to finish
