Meet the Hollowheads

This is sort of like a lite version of BRAZIL; which takes a standard 60s sit-com plot of a middle-class working father who has to impress his boss with a dinner at the family home; and sets it in some futuristic/alien world.

It has quite impressive production values, great set design, and a fairy tight little script.

All the child actors especially show a lot of enthusiasm and great personality.

Very enjoyable if you like escapist storytelling. It would probably make an enjoyable rainy-day video for the family during holidays.

This movie is not good or bad its just plain crazy. It takes place in another universe where people get everything given to them through tubes. Its craziness does it good though, it could have cult potential if it were more widely known. The movie features a cameo by the hilarious Anne Ramsey (Throw Mamma From The Train)and very young Juliette Lewis before her breakthrough role in "Cape Fear." Its a silly crazy piece of work, could be worth a see to some people. Not bad.

Everything revolves around tubes in this futuristic "dark comedy" . The eclectic cast is interesting, with Nancy Mette, Richard Portnow, John Glover, and especially a cameo by Ann Ramsey. Ramsey is in charge of the local tube station, and her subtitled rant is worth the price of admission alone. Meanwhile the neon sets are creative with tubes pumping everything in and out of the domicile. There are obvious sexual double meanings referred to in all the "tube talk". Things eventually turn nasty with the Hollowhead's defending themselves from Mr. Hollowhead's lecherous boss. "Meet the Hollowheads" is definitely going to be an aquired taste, but for the right audience this is cult film caviar. "Good shift" . - MERK

It's like a late-Snakefinger era Residents video that goes on forever because one little boy WON'T LET THEM STOP!! In our house we always follow it up with a Mongolian Death Worm quiche and Quisp pie. Most folks don't necessarily need the 151-proof white rum chaser, but we strongly suggest you just take your medicine and shut the heck up -- especially during all those extra juicy food preparation scenes. This is a great movie when it's served to your dinner guests without all those pre-conceived notions like Germanoid meal tickets getting in the way. Make sure you keep those internal visions of Jesus doin' the hustle in your head all updated and stuff and you'll survive the night just fine, which is more than you can say about Juliette Lewis' acting career. Does anybody else get her confused with Shayna Knight? So it's just me then. I thought so.

This is certainly one cheery little pile of glop but, with its rainbow-dessert/Good n'Plenty visual design, it is hard to digest and rather nausea inducing. It's like a bad dream channeled through a nether world where the brains of Terry Gilliam and Steven Spielberg (in his Goonies phase) connect. Meet the Hollowheads? More like the Jetsons-meets-Brazil-meets-a-hamster-habitrail... well, it's certainly not the usual "meetings" I'll grant that. But it's all contrived weirdness and goopy effects, and worst of all not funny. There's no wit, just a lot of Sid & Marty Kroft-like ('Lidsville/H.R. Pufnstuf', etc.) goings on that might appeal to kids. There's even a section with Anne Ramsey that is so badly acted and recorded that it required post-production sub-titles in order to figure out what was being said (granted Miss Ramsey died, presumably before she could loop her dialogue). There's also a cheesy 80's-cliche guitar & synth music score that ironically dates this futuristic film. Or maybe it's not futuristic, but an alternate universe... being the same place where this film came from, like some of the actors listed: Shnutz Burman, Lightfield Lewis, Shotgun Britton and Jack Cheese (yes, these are the actors names not their characters). Yet it was probably a blast to make, at least for the Burman clan: from the credits it appears the entire Burman family tree worked on this. Then again, Tom Burman is a make-up artist, so this may be the finest directorial achievement of any make-up artist in Hollywood history. Bravo... now let's put a Key Grip in the directorial chair and see what one of THEM can do.