Search and Destroy

Search And Destroy is an exceptionally weird, nearly impenetrable satire of Hollywood, produced by Martin Scorsese (he also cameos). It's essentially just a series of odd, puzzling vignettes vaguely based on business and movie archetypes we've all come to know, and love to make fun of. As far as coherent story or heartbeat, look elsewhere. You may however enjoy it's oddball characters, and you've got to do a double take when you see how many awesome actors are in the cast, in a film you've probably never heard of. Griffin Dunne, who started in Scorsese's excellent After Hours, plays Martin Mirkheim, a shameless moronic suck up desperately trying to get his awful script sold to some show business bigwigs. Along the way he meets a host of hives inducing freaks that one might expect to find in early 1990's film scene. Dennis Hopper lurks into the frame as Dr. Luther Waxling, a batty self help guru and author of a pretentious psychobabble book starring an allegorical man (Robert Knepper). John Turturro ramps up the mania past his Big Lebowski role (yes, it's possible) as a demented agent, Ethan Hawke plays adislikable assistant to Hooper. Roseanne Arquette is Dunne's hampered wife, Illeana Douglas is great as Hopper's oddball girlfriend who takes up with Mirkheim. Her schlocky horror movie pitch monologue up is a highlight. Stealing the show, however, and can we expect anything less from him, is Christopher Walken. He plays Kim Ulander, a wondrous Walken creation, a shady, pleasant mannered ad exec who goes absolutely postal at the drop of a hat, the funniest sociopath you could ever hope to meet. This film doesn't mean much. It's more of a subtle, deliberate perversion of the industry that forms it, biting the hand that feeds it while it's tongue is right in its cheek. Enjoy it for its abstract, absurd dialogue, weirdo fucknut characters, and darkly silly, nonsensical, self destructive aura. Those are probably the key reasons that this wasn't well received. They're all the reasons I got a nasty kick out of it.

Great movie, probably one my favorites, although I'm not sure why. Technically, it's pretty sloppy but I just love the cast, the crazy rapid-fire delivery of Turturo, the eerie deadpan Walken, the manic Dunne. Griffin Dunne performs a souped reprise of his role in "After Hours", although he overacts at times, he has the desperate loser role down pat. The movie title, to me, is about searching for what you love and then destroying it, something most of us seem to do over and over again. I like this movie more and more each time I see it, although the sloppiness bugs me increasingly as well. There is a message here about the dangers of pop psychology and new age mantras, but muddled among the nonsense sayings there are some meaningful comments. My favorite is the observation that "We are afraid of change, we are lazy and we are addicted to our pain". How true....

This is a gem that is lost amongst the crap that came out in the mid nineties American cinema. The first time I saw this film I thought that it was bizarre, yet in some odd way compelling. I have since seen it seven or eight more times and it gets better each time. The humor is dark and unconventional, and the dialog is odd in that it is difficult to determine whether or not its meant to be funny or is simply poor writing, I still have not figured that out which is probably one of the reasons I love this film.

The cast is of course outstanding, which is why I first rented this film knowing nothing about it. It must have had a very short theater shelf life. Dennis Hopper, Ethan Hawke and produced by Martin Scorcese, how could you go wrong? But the truly outstanding performance, and the majority of the quotable lines are spoken by Christopher Walken. His characters name is Kim Ulander, classic, and walken does what walken does best in this role, he plays a psychopath. See this film, and see it again and again and again.

This is indeed a quirky movie, so Walken is clearly in his element. Griffen Dunne does seem like he's playing the same character in After Hours, only he has fallen on hard times. Dennis Hopper's character, Dunne thinks, holds the key to a brighter future, but only if he can raise the money to turn Hopper's book into a film. That's where Walken's character comes in. But he doesn't want to give him the money directly. He's read Hopper's book too, and wants to help Dunne empower himself, by finding a deal that can help Dunne raise the money, which is where Taturo character comes in. Taturo is a perfect foil for Walken's laid back style. He's no Barton Fink here, but just as weird. If quirky comedies that chug there way over the top are your thing, this movie is for you!

christopher walkens best preformance ever!!! if you are a fan of walken or dennis hopper you must see this movie.

it's weird but never boring. also it's unpredictable. and you can read into it endlessly if you want to know what it's trying to say,or you cad just sit back for the ride. How Fu*&ing good is Cristopher Walken. great! Funny! Entertaining! origanal!