Under the Hula Moon

Stephen Baldwin is so funny in this colorful comedy. Looks cool and the music was camp. See it.

Let me just say that this film is not to everyone's taste but others will love it. I've seen it four times. Betty ( Lloyd, who is always fabulous, does a mean American accent here) and Buzz (Stephen Baldwin at his best) play a perfectly suited couple who live in a trailer and dream of big things. When Buzz's brother (Chris Penn) turns up things go haywire. Chris Penn gives a scarily intense performance. He is really great and gives a violent edge to this hilarious and quirky comedy. So if you like your movies unique and original. Under the Hula Moon is for you.

I started watching it, and couldn't stop. I don't know if I wanted it to get better, or just wanted to see where it would go next. It was funny, and still, not a good movie, or a bad one. I know when it was over, I felt like something had been stolen from me. It had some inklings of Raising Arizona, but not as funny. There were some "hidden" funny things, but you have to pay attention. That's not always easy with this movie. A few times I wanted to turn it off, but like looking at a car accident while it's happening, it's bad, but you can't look away. I would recommend it, if you have some mind candy time to kill. Or perhaps just want to turn your brain to mush while eating cheetos and drinking strawberry quik.

Considering that the overall score for "Under the Hula Moon" has an abysmal overall score of 4.3 AND it stars the far less famous siblings of famous stars, I assumed it would be a terrible film. To my surprise, the film was quirky and a lot of fun...though I assume it's not a film for all folks, as it is quite strange.

Buzzard Wall (Stephen Baldwin...Alec's brother) lives with his wife in a trailer in the middle of the Arizona desert. They are quite poor, as Buzz spends all of his time working on his invention, camoflage sunscreen, instead of working an actual job. Betty (Emily Lloyd) loves him dearly, but she is frustrated by Buzz's obsession with this invention...an invention that no one seems to want.

One day, Buzz's psychotic brother, Turkey (Chris Penn, brother of Sean) arrives...freshly from escaping from prison AND killing a man. Soon he beats up Buzz and abducts his wife....and spirits her off to Mexico against her will. Assisted by a really annoying ex-girlfriend/TV reporter, Buzz sets off to get his wife and beat the snot out of Turk.

The film is weird from start to finish...and the film tried very hard to be quirky and strange. The music, set design and costumes all work well to create a weird look...and I really liked it. As for the actors, despite being the 'lesser brothers', but did just fine and the film really worked due to the funny script and direction. My only complaint, and it is very minor, is that the resolution seems to come a bit too quickly...but still, it's great fun.

By the way, the language in this movie is pretty rough...so it's not a good movie to show your kids, dog, mother-in-law or Father O'Reilly if he stops by for a visit.

I don't know how many times I've seen this movie,but every time I see it, it still seems to amaze me.I have the luxury of having it on a DVD, so I can watch it anytime I want.Some of the lines in that movie stick around in my head for days on end,and it makes me laugh every time.It was very funny! The songs in the movie, were picked with amazing care.Its so suspenseful that you couldn't leave in the middle of it.Under the Hula Moon was one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen, and I recommend it to everyone! If you are feeling down and blue,just pick up Under the Hula Moon. It may be really weird at first, but it will all make sense in the end, I promise, in fact you will probably want to see it again! :)