Overall Rating Awesome: 24.07% Worth A Look: 37.04% Average: 7.41% Pretty Bad: 11.11% Total Crap: 20.37% 3 reviews, 36 user ratings

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Wild at Heart

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by Rich

"Average Lynch is still better than half the crap around."

This is an eclectic, strange, funny, violent, excessive and disturbing. From its pop culture references (Wizard of Oz to Yojimbo) to its sudden rushes of graphic violence and absurdist comedy this is unlike anything else around.

Wild at Heart is an enigma to me. Made when Lynch was at the peak of his popularity with Twin Peaks it went on to inexplicably win the Palme D'or.
I really like this movie but was this really the best movie of 1990.
I'm a little knowledgable about the Barry Gifford book this is based on. The book is almost plotless so Lynch had to add a few things to give it a bit of structure as a film but he hasn't done too much to the essential characters and anecdotes. In fact he even lifts some of the book's sharp dialogue directly into the film.
This may lead me to the film's central flaw. The vingettes and strange characters work perfectly in the book and on the surface seem Perfect for a Lynch film but it doesn't seem to gel completely. The scenes of violence are very jarring. At times it's meant to be humourous (the decapitation of Bobby for example) but other times it's there to be truly disturbing. The scene where Sailor and Lula come across a car accident is a brilliant example of how Lynch can manipulate the audio and visual aspects of a scene to create a genuinely chilling moment. On it's own its a masterful set-piece but Lynch seem to cram every wierd idea he can think of into the film and this gives it no chance of cohesiveness at all.
All the actors play their parts perfectly. Cage is Elvis encarnate as Sailor (he does all his own singing in the film) and Laura Dern plays Lula as carefree and sexy as any character I've seen. Ladd plays Dern's mother in real life and on film and comes through the degredation Lynch puts her through quite respectively. Willem Dafoe plays Bobby Peru with some truly ugly false teeth and boy he is creepy. Bobby is up there with Frank Booth as the scariest things Lynch has put on the screen.
I personally enjoyed the more absurd moments in the film like Sailor's serenade to Lula in a metal club. For me the film really slowed down alot once they reached the town of Big Tuna and it didn't pick up until Sailor had a visit from the good witch (or was it Laura Palmer)

What can we expect from Lynch? Some have said that this is Lynch doing Lynch and the bizarreness is strained at times but for a surreal night out, not much can beat this.

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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=2495&reviewer=178
originally posted: 11/07/99 22:59:39

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User Comments

12/24/09 Jeff Wilder A step down from Blue Velvet. But still worth seeing if you can handle Lynch. 4 stars

11/16/08 brian The emperor has no clothes. 2 stars

7/18/07 John Kaczynski Full of cliched dialogue, one dimensional characters, and a script that drags on forever 2 stars

7/11/07 fools♫gold A favorite, witty reference-y love film. 5 stars

6/10/07 Bob "A rockin' good time". Back before Cage started accepting *all* scripts too! 5 stars

12/31/06 mr.mike didn't thrill me , not one of lynch's best 3 stars

10/27/06 Isaac Baranoff Cool. Unique. If it's Lynch, it's good. 5 stars

8/22/06 Sepi53 interesting, weird, different but OK 4 stars

7/12/05 Tom Benton Gritty, weird, and wacky fun from the great David Lynch. 4 stars

6/05/04 MyGreenBed A deeply flawed mess with some interesting scenes, but compared to post-Wild it's great. 3 stars

6/03/04 Graham Curtis Lynch is God 5 stars

2/27/04 Ninke bizzare and funny 5 stars

2/18/04 john interessting in parts but unengaging and ultimately pointless 2 stars

1/31/04 jmsynth Hard to watch at times, but this flick influenced some of the best flicks of the 90s 4 stars

7/29/03 R.W. Welch Has a flaky flair that just manages to hold you til the kicky finale. 4 stars

6/29/03 Jon Lyrik I wasn't sure to laugh or go "Huh?". Some cool scenes but pretty subpar film. 3 stars

5/23/03 Mr. Hat (I'm Back, Mo'Fos!) @ 1st, I thought it was spoofing itself, but then it just got too fucked up in the head. 2 stars

1/01/03 Jack Sommersby Obscene just for obscenity's sake. A real cinematic shit stain. 1 stars

10/22/02 Charles Tatum Seriously bad 1 stars

8/08/02 I Can't Swim Egregious bag of snot courtesy of the most annoying actors alive, Cage & Dern 1 stars

3/21/02 The Man One of a kind. Most bizarre film I've seen. Don't watch with mommy 5 stars

2/19/02 Edwin Wendy, wanna a sweet, suck yer feet 5 stars

1/26/02 Wendy Jane Torrance Laura Dern, gutsy actress willing to take chances, gambled and lost this time. Yucky movie 1 stars

11/27/01 Ian Barr Cool, but not Lynch's best. Love the bank robbery scene! 5 stars

11/04/01 E-Funk Interesting Lynch film. Cage and Dern fuck like bunnies and....yeah 4 stars

8/20/01 hemmingway_bg Twin Peaks Lite 2 stars

5/31/01 Walter Provo Badly overrated and quite hypocritical film 2 stars

3/16/01 Elvisfan I loved "Blue Velvet" but this one is off the charts, even for Lynch 1 stars

3/07/01 Mike Lynch is God! 5 stars

2/21/01 Rocket Boy Outrageous, hilarious. 5 stars

12/14/00 TEKNO TODD Cage, Lynch, Sex, Violence...YES!!! 4 stars

11/08/00 Jon Axt perfect 5 stars

11/03/00 perverted pixie In that torture scene I had my hands over my eyes- and I've seen Reservior Dogs! 5 stars

10/19/00 SAILOR RIPLEY THE BEST FILME IVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!! 5 stars

7/11/00 Jami Not one of my favorite Lynch films, but still quite good 3 stars

11/08/99 Chef ADogg Cage's last good films; Lynch's only one. 4 stars

IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
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USA 02-Aug-1990 (R) DVD: 07-Dec-2004 UK N/A Australia N/A

Directed by David Lynch Written by David Lynch Cast Nicolas Cage Laura Dern Willem Dafoe Crispin Glover Diane Ladd Harry Dean Stanton Isabella Rossellini Sherilyn Fenn

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