Rating: 
Summary: Something special
Review: "Something Wild" is an early Melanie Griffith film from 1986. It went by unnoticed on its theatrical release, but quickly found an audience on video. It's full of laughs!Melanie Griffith plays Lulu, a fun-loving lady with a shady past. She stumbles across Jeff Daniels one day in a diner and is drawn to him through his attempt to leave without paying. Next thing the two of them are on a wild journey full of funny situations. However, its not all fun! There are some genuine scary and tense moments in the film when Lulu's ex-husband turns up. But these help add spark to the film and make it one of the great films of the 80's. Something Wild" is one of those special films that comes along once in awhile. It's also one of those films you can watch over and over, I just love it! Along with "Working Girl", this is one of Melanie Griffith's shining moments. DVD SUMMARY: Let me begin by saying that I was thrilled to obtain this on DVD, after owning a rather poor quality pan/scan video version of it. The DVD is in widescreen anamorphic, and while the transfer is not exactly clear and pristine, it is accceptable considering its age. Special features include a trailor. SOMETHING WILD is a must-own DVD. Grab it before it goes out of print.
Rating:
Summary: Something special
Review: "Something Wild" is an early Melanie Griffith film from 1986. It went by unnoticed on its theatrical release, but quickly found an audience on video. It's full of laughs! Melanie Griffith plays Lulu, a fun-loving lady with a shady past. She stumbles across Jeff Daniels one day in a diner and is drawn to him through his attempt to leave without paying. Next thing the two of them are on a wild journey full of funny situations. However, its not all fun! There are some genuine scary and tense moments in the film when Lulu's ex-husband turns up. But these help add spark to the film and make it one of the great films of the 80's. Something Wild" is one of those special films that comes along once in awhile. It's also one of those films you can watch over and over, I just love it! Along with "Working Girl", this is one of Melanie Griffith's shining moments. DVD SUMMARY: Let me begin by saying that I was thrilled to obtain this on DVD, after owning a rather poor quality pan/scan video version of it. The DVD is in widescreen anamorphic, and while the transfer is not exactly clear and pristine, it is accceptable considering its age. Special features include a trailor. SOMETHING WILD is a must-own DVD. Grab it before it goes out of print.
Rating:
Summary: I second the preceding praises of this film...
Review: ...and add the following recommendations. Watch this film alongside another pair of mid-80s films in the "When Very Weird Things Happen to Very Bored (White?) Guys" genre. I'm speaking first of John Landis' "Into the Night," starring Jeff Goldblum (can't get to sleep) and Michelle Pfieffer, but most memorable to me for the David Bowie-Carl Perkins(!) knife-fight. Second is Martin Scorcese's "After Hours," starring Griffin Dunne (can't get out of Soho), Rosanna Arquette, Catherine O'Hara, Cheech & Chong, Linda Firoentino, Teri Garr, etc. Of this divine trinity of put-upon nerds, "Something Wild" holds up best for me. All, however, are lots of fun, with "After Hours" being, unsurprisingly, the darkest of the three, and "Into the Night" being the most fantastic. BTW, any fan of "Something Wild" who hasn't checked out the soundtrack is missing a gem!!!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Casting, Perfect Direction, Perfect Acting...
Review: ...I am flipped for road moovys and this is one of my faves. I get the feel that Hollywood doesn't know how to treat the fabuloso Melanie Griffith, but her range comes out nicely in this. (She has almost been placed in a Marilyn Monroe typecasting thing, but with this and a few of those lesser known Mela G. moovys, time is gonna show how great she really is.) And, boy! Wouldn't that be a trip to have evvybody's smarmy nightmare, Ray Liotta, as the (ex)boyfriend of some girl you've fallen for? Anyway, this is a good product that I don't mind watching over and over again.
Rating: 
Summary: Eighties with a capital "8" !
Review: After recently re-watching "Something Wild", I was reminded why Jonathan Demme was one of the more promising new directors of the 80's,before being reduced to a hired hand on Oprah Winfrey's ego project "Beloved". Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels (before his one-note aw-shucks Jimmy Stewart persona became tiresome)give top performances as the kooky free spirit and the (initially) uptight yuppie. Demme successfully blends classic 30's-style screwball comedy with some surprisingly frank sexuality (for a Hollywood film). A mid-80's zeitgeist fills each scene with rich neon colors and a very hip selection of music. The introduction of Ray Liotta's well played, menacing psycho ex-husband character, while initially jarring, saves the film from becoming merely a collection of zany, episodic vignettes, adding interesting dramatic tension. There are also enough subtle layers to the characters that make the film worth repeated viewings. A definite sleeper that has aged well.
Rating:
Summary: great 80's movie!
Review: Every scene and character in this movie worked! The background music was as "haunting" as Titanic. Jeff Daniel's was perfect as a sexy geek! And Ray Liota was convincing as the psyco/stalker ex. The camio by John Waters was hysterical. This Melanie Griffin's best movie. The movie has everything, it will appeal to anyone. It has lust,love,comedy and violence. It's an added bonus watching this movie in the 90's and noticing Jeff Daniel's using a pay phone as opposed to a cell phone.
Rating:
Summary: Great musical time capsule for the time
Review: First, the music in this movie. Director Jonathan Demme has always put good songs in, but "Something Wild" might be the best example. Just about every song used reminds me of the good things about inventive creative music from the 80's, while leaving the garbage out. Thus the "time capsule" header, as this is the way I'd like to remember that era. The movie itself is a wild roller coaster that is somewhat of an updated version of a Hitchcock movie. The comparison here is based on an everyday guy getting himself drawn deeper and deeper in to a situation, where he not only at times escape is fairly difficult, but he'll eventually have to fight for his life. But what makes it more intriguing is that when the everyday guy does get a chance to escape, he finds his situation so intriguing that he changes his mind. He not only spies on the situation he probably should be running away from as fast as he can, but he also confronts it in one of the most ballsy scenes in movie history. The restaurant scene where he virtually walks in and takes the girl from the nasty bad guy is a cinematic treat. So is the casting. Jeff Daniels is perfect as the everyday guy. It's disappointing to see Melanie Griffith today, because in this movie she absolutely sizzles as the bad girl who gets him into the predicament, but also has a good side that wants to get out of the bad life. And the screen debut of Ray Liotta is absolutely electrifying as an intelligent violent man, and I'm sure this is what got him the recognition that led to "Goodfellas". I'm amazed that I saw this movie while well into my adult life, and considering that was already sixteen years ago, I'm starting to feel old again.
Rating:
Summary: Great musical time capsule for the time
Review: First, the music in this movie. Director Jonathan Demme has always put good songs in, but "Something Wild" might be the best example. Just about every song used reminds me of the good things about inventive creative music from the 80's, while leaving the garbage out. Thus the "time capsule" header, as this is the way I'd like to remember that era. The movie itself is a wild roller coaster that is somewhat of an updated version of a Hitchcock movie. The comparison here is based on an everyday guy getting himself drawn deeper and deeper in to a situation, where he not only at times escape is fairly difficult, but he'll eventually have to fight for his life. But what makes it more intriguing is that when the everyday guy does get a chance to escape, he finds his situation so intriguing that he changes his mind. He not only spies on the situation he probably should be running away from as fast as he can, but he also confronts it in one of the most ballsy scenes in movie history. The restaurant scene where he virtually walks in and takes the girl from the nasty bad guy is a cinematic treat. So is the casting. Jeff Daniels is perfect as the everyday guy. It's disappointing to see Melanie Griffith today, because in this movie she absolutely sizzles as the bad girl who gets him into the predicament, but also has a good side that wants to get out of the bad life. And the screen debut of Ray Liotta is absolutely electrifying as an intelligent violent man, and I'm sure this is what got him the recognition that led to "Goodfellas". I'm amazed that I saw this movie while well into my adult life, and considering that was already sixteen years ago, I'm starting to feel old again.
Rating:
Summary: My favorrite movie... on DVD at last!
Review: I first saw this movie in the theaters, and I remember sitting spellbound, utterly enthralled by the adept manner in which Jonathan Demme blends comedy, romance, drama, and suspense in a single film. For years, I would catch it whenever I could on cable -- or, if I were hanging with a "virgin" friend who had never before seen the film, I'd scrounge up a rental copy (pan-n-scan, of course) at the local video store. All told, I've seen it about a dozen times, twice as many times as I have seen any other movie -- but only once in the widescreen format in which it was originally composed. When people ask me what my favorite movie is, I tell them without hesitation, "Something Wild." Inevitably, a look of comprehension is absent from their face. I briefly explain the plot, describe Melanie Griffith in the black wig, Jeff Daniels as the nebbishy accountant, and Ray Liotta as the Lulu's sinister ex-con (IMHO, career-best performances for all three), and faces begin to light up. Most people have caught at least a part of this film on Comedy Central and recognize it (if only slightly) from those heavily edited screenings, which is a shame because this movie needs to be seen in its unexpurgated form in order to really gain an appreciation of its genius. So you can imagine my delight when I opened a birthday gift from my girlfriend and found inside a copy of "Something Wild" on DVD. If I were capable of squealing, I would have. You see, I was under the impression that this was one of those "lost titles" that would never be released on DVD. Yet there it was, in my hands, a true cinematic masterpiece, one of the best films of the 80s, my favorite movie. Sigh. What a great birthday present! Now that I have recovered from the initial giddiness of actually owning the flick and watched it once or twice, I can report objectively that the DVD release isn't perfect. The transfer is average (but nevertheless widescreen -- yay!), with a slightly washed-out look that minimizes some of the impact of the garish 80s couture. And the disk is pretty straightforward. You can select from 16 scenes, watch in the original English or dubbed Spanish, watch with French or Spanish subtitles, and view an irrelevant theatrical trailer. Or, you can just live with the fact that this great film is finally available on DVD and watch it start to finish, over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Zany humor blends brilliantly with sinister plot
Review: I first watched this movie in 1989 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and it left an impression on me so deep that I have never stopped recommending it to people ever since. The first 30 minutes are among the funniest you could wish to watch, as the ultra-weird Lulu whisks the world's straightest businessmen away from his city job in the middle of a normal working day, seduces him in a motel using handcuffs, and later makes him race away from a roadside restaurant without paying the bill. There is an abrupt and totally unexpected change of tone midway through when it becomes clear that Lulu has a nutcase husband, Ray, who's just come out of prison. The viewer finds himself praying that everything will turn out okay for Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels, because even though they have both told a few lies to each other and have done things they shouldn't have, they are ultimately nice people and - somewhat to their own surprise - have ended up liking each other a lot. But Ray just gets more and more violent and obsessive about getting Lulu back. All three main parts are played perfectly, and there are all sorts of wonderful cameos like the owner of the liquor store that Lulu robs, the second-hand car dealer, and the old schoolfriend of Jeff Daniels with his horridly dull pregnant wife. Fantastic music, too.
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