Heartbeeps

If you have witnessed Andy Kaufman's slant on comedy, you may understand why I avoided this movie of his for years. Actually, for most of that time, I couldn't see it even if I wanted to - video stores in my area didn't stock it, and it never appeared on TV. I had to rent it online when recently I finally got the courage to give it a try.

My heart sank during the first few seconds of the movie. The comedy in this opening is both very familiar and unfunny, and the movie manages to sink further and further as it goes on. There's barely a story here, with the bulk of the movie consisting of the robots wandering around... and around... and around until you want to scream. It doesn't help that the robot characters are a turn-off. They don't have much of a personality (they seem very stupid - why should we care about stupid characters?), and their voices are very annoying to the ear.

The makeup is good, I'll admit. But it seems odd that they spent time for the makeup when not bothering to present the rest of this world as a futuristic world (the vehicles of this world, for one thing, are present-day gas-powered vehicles.) It's even more odd to consider that no one involved with this movie realized along the way that this project was a train wreck.

This is an expensive comedy that forgot to be funny and proved to be a huge flop upon release. Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters star as robots in a future time when domestic robotic servants are commonplace. They run away from a repair warehouse and wander the countryside, falling in love along the way. The cast includes Randy Quaid, Kenneth McMillan, Christopher Guest, Melanie Mayron, Dick Miller, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, and the voice of Jack Carter. The elaborate robots, a mix of costume and makeup, were made by Stan Winston. The partially electronic score is by John Williams. Despite all of that talent, it's pretty awful, with no real story, and the attempted jokes just land flatly, partially because I was expecting Kaufman's usual brand of humor and got something completely different. The failure of this ended whatever big screen chances controversial comedian Kaufman had.

I saw this movie at the drive-in and on hbo in the early 80's and i still remember it! It is a kids movie but lets look at the wizard of oz it's the same sort of fantasy movie that everyone can enjoy!!!! I just wish it would come out on dvd in widescreen! So if there is anyone out there that works for a dvd company that can get the rights to this film or who works for the studio that made heartbeeps, really needs to release it in widescreen or special edition, it's a real good movie, i mean if anyone liked the movie Bicentennial Man with robin williams where he plays a robot trying to find himself you will love this movie, if you need a reference, i think its Bicentennial Man meets a love story!

Andy Kaufman went on David Letterman and apologized for this movie. He said he wanted to give everyone their money back if they had seen the movie. I'm not sure he was entirely joking. It's bad enough that you might want your money back, but it's stupid enough to keep you interested in watching it.

I tortured my friends by showing them this movie. They enjoyed the psycho malfunctioning cop robot. Years later they still bring it up.

I would put this movie on the same level as SuperFuzz.

If you like bad movies, this one's a real treat. Kaufman & Peters stagger around in robot costumes, escape slavery only to wander aimlessly, and find true robot love. I believe this is the first movie that ever made me consider walking out. I should note I was 12, and could be entertained by shiny objects.