Qualcosa di travolgente

Rewatching Something Wild recently some 30 years after I first saw it, I was struck by how vividly the craziness of the story stayed in my memory, but also how surprising and unexpected the plot turns were. This is a good sign that that someone took time to craft an excellent plot. In fact, the film makers have lavished tender loving care on every aspect of this film and given it a lot of heart.

Melanie Griffith does everything but set the screen on fire as she takes Jeff Daniel's humdrum office worker life and turns it upside down. We're then taken on a helter-skelter anything-goes trip where the couple leave the city and the staid conventions of middle class life behind as they plunge into a passionate affair and journey deep into the comforting familiarity of small town America with its motels, folksy shops and and kindly people. Ironically this is where the greatest danger lurks in the shape of old flame Ray Liotta, grinning maniacally and flipping the madcap whimsy into insane violence.

Every minor character on this trip fills you with good vibes, in sharp contrast to the sinister kind of twist that current-day Hollywood mainstream gives to bit players. The soundtrack, for fans of 80s music, is fantastic - you're bound to hear stuff you haven't heard for ages.

This film works on many levels: the actors are charming and charismatic, and their parts are well and sympathetically written. It's a loving memoir of a materialistic decade that many thought was money-obsessed but was filled with many hapless characters like this reviewer who lived similar episodes in their own lives: except not so wild!

Jeff Daniels has never been better, Ray Liotta is wonderfully sexy and menacing, and even Melanie Griffith (whom I normally dislike) works well here. One of my favorite Demme movies, this one features all kinds of interesting little character bits (a Demme trademark), and a cool little detail that I only noticed upon my 3rd or 4th viewing: at the high school reunion, after Charlie and Audrey finish their sweet little dance, the lights flicker and black out for a moment, signaling the end of the first, lighter half of the film. Ray Liotta appears on screen seconds later, bringing with him the all the violence and danger of the second half.

A very simple but elegant touch. Check this one out, it's a really good movie. Great soundtrack too! 8/10.

I truly love this movie when I need to totally vanish from real life for a couple of hours. I wholeheartedly agree with the comments about how it goes from fun to serious almost seamlessly, but one part has been overlooked. The visit to Audrey's mother, Peaches, is almost abrupt in its quietude ("Don't call me Lulu, call me Audrey" changes everything), and it makes you wonder how Audrey became as free-spirited as she is. Peaches is no dummy, either... she reads right through Charlie with an air of a woman resigned to never really knowing her daughter. This little visit is the bridge between the fun and scary, the surreal and frighteningly real, and asks more questions than it answers... which works perfectly.

Sometimes you have to search high and low, but you really can find some interesting films made in the late 1980s. Though Jonathan Demme's film is not perfect, it still brilliantly outshines most of the crud made back then. Something Wild is the study of two souls who seem to come from different worlds going on a crazy road trip full of sex, violence, and even a high school reunion.

It all begins inside a tiny diner in New York City when openly free-spirited Audrey (Melanie Griffith) notices yuppie Charlie (Jeff Daniels) sneak out on paying his bill. She confronts him outside, and the two of them end up jumping in her car and taking off on a sunny Friday afternoon. At first it would seem that this trip across the state line will merely end in a sexual tryst in a cheap motel, but little does Charlie know, Audrey has all sorts of plans for him that weekend. After some serious hanky-panky, Audrey takes Charlie back to her home town, introduces him to her mother as her husband, and then takes him to her high school reunion. In a development a little bit contrived for this critic's liking, one of Charlie's co-workers also happens to be attending this reunion. This could potentially destroy the facade of the family man on a wild weekend that Charlie is trying to perpetrate. (at this point we learn his wife left him quite a while ago) Further complicating matters is the arrival of Audrey's psychotic ex-husband, played with fearsome intensity by Ray Liotta. From that point on, this film which has largely gone for laughs, becomes rather intense and often violent.

This film scores major points by absolutely keeping the audience guessing. At least until the third act when the film can likely conclude in no other way than it does. The film avoids making Charlie out to be a totally predictable sap who is just along for a wild ride with a crazy woman. Charlie has his own secrets, and a whole hidden side of his own that comes out when it has to. Demme places some marginally famous people in some truly odd cameos, and spends a little bit more time with peripheral characters than some people would. It gives the film a very "human" kind of feeling as we get to know at least a little something about even someone working as a waitress or at a motel. The film maybe meanders a bit here and there, but that is understandable since so much of it plays out like a road trip. The actors are exceptional, and the film is full of color and energy. Highly recommended. 9 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

In New York, the yuppie newly promoted Vice President Charles Driggs (Jeff Daniels) meets the sexy and free-spirited Lulu (Melanie Griffith) after cheating a restaurant for fun. Lulu offers a ride for him in her convertible but she "abducts" Charles and they go to a motel in New Jersey, where they spend the night together. On the next morning, she heads to her hometown in Pennsylvania to spend the weekend with Charlie. When they arrive in her mother's home, she discloses her real name – Audrey Hankel – to him and she tells her mother that Charlie is her husband. In the night, they go to her high-school reunion posing as husband and wife. But Audrey's ex-husband Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta) that has just left prison on probation meets her in the party. Audrey does not tell Charlie who Ray is and Charlie accepts Ray's invitation to drink some beer with him and his date Irene (Margaret Colin). After a while, Ray becomes violent, hits Charlie and kidnaps Audrey. But Charlie does not intend to give up on her.

"Something Wild" is one of my favorite films and one of the best cult- movies of the 80's. I have just watched this film at least for the sixth time and I still love it. The sweet and gorgeous Melanie Griffith has one of the best performances of her career in the role of a young woman detached in a moment from the social conventions and extremely conservative when she meets her mother. Lulu is a reference to Louise Brooks' character in "Pandora's Box". Jeff Daniels is also excellent and very funny in the role of a naive and silly executive that finds that is better off feel like a live dog than a dead lion. Ray Liotta is also fantastic in the role of a cynical scum. The screenplay divides the story in two parts and fight in Charlie's house is impressively realistic. Last but not the least, the soundtrack is fantastic. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Totalmente Selvagem" ("Totally Wild")

Note: On 18 August 2014 I saw this movie again.