Themes: Opposites Attract, Lovers on the Lam, Date from Hell
Main Cast: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta, Margaret Colin, Tracey Walter
Release Year: 1986
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A wildly inventive and entertaining comic nightmare from former Roger Corman prodigy Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this screwball odyssey is a ride to remember. Jeff Daniels plays clean-cut New York bond trader Charlie Driggs, who accepts a ride home from a strange but attractive lower-class woman named Lulu (Melanie Griffith). The sexy Louise Brooks lookalike doesn't take him home, but shanghais him for a bizarre roadtrip to Virginia that includes kinky bondage sex, destruction of property, and robbery. Things get stranger when Lulu tells Charlie that her real name is Audrey and takes him home to meet her mother, asking him to pose as her husband. The charade continues until her high-school reunion, where the roadtrip (and the entire film) takes a sharp U-turn into psycho-thriller territory. Audrey's dangerously psychotic ex-con husband, Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta), shows up. What had been a liberating fling for Charlie turns into a bloody and vicious battle for survival. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Review
Jonathan Demme's stylistic choices here hearken back to such 1930s screwball comedies as Bringing Up Baby, with a liberal dose of the danger and insanity of Martin Scorsese's After Hours. The tone of much of this film is lighter than Scorsese's, though, making the transition from comedy to thriller even more disarming when it occurs. A beautifully structured screenplay by E. Max Frye and believable performances with a dark and strangely erotic edge make this a film that really lives up to its title. The three leads all do excellent work. Ray Liotta is nasty and menacing in his role, chasing the pair to New York and nearly kicking them both to pieces with his steel-tipped boots before meeting a gory demise. Perhaps Liotta is even a bit too menacing, as his sadistic thrashings of Daniels and Griffith threaten to throw off the balance of the film at times, but Demme eventually gets things back on track for a traditional happy ending. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Tracey Walter - The Country Squire; Dana Preu - Peaches; Jack Gilpin - Larry Dillman; Su Tissue - Peggy Dillman; Kristin Olsen - Tracy; John Sayles - Motorcycle Cop; Charles Napier - Irate Chef; Kenneth Utt - Dad; Sister Carol East - Dottie; The Feelies - The Willies; Buzz Kilman - TV Newscaster; Leib Lensky - Frenchy; Anna Levine - The Girl in 3F; Sandy McLeod - Graves' Secretary; Jim Roche - Motel Philosopher; Gary Goetzman - Guido Paonessa; Adelle Lutz - Rose; Edward Saxon - Kevin Stroup; Chloe Amateau - Chloe; Vic Blair - Cowboy Maitre d'; Emma Bryne - Junk Store Gal; Thomas Cavano - Guitar Player; Dung Chau - Robbery Victim; Lee Joseph Davis - James Williams; Dorothy Demme - Junk Store Gal; Ding-A-Ling - Motorcycle Dog; Ardella Mary Drew - Donna Penski; Patricia Falkenhain - Charlie's Secretary; Jeff Herig - Police Officer; James Hurd - Stylish Reunion Couple; D. Byron Hutcherson; Eleana Hutcherson - Hitchhiking Kid; Joanna Kitchen-Hurd - Stylish Reunion Couple; Gil Lazier - Homicide Detective; Johnny Marrs - Motorcycle Driver; Max the Dog - Himself; Stanton D. Miranda - "Darlene"; John Montgomery - Harmonica Slim; R. Jeffery Rioux; Steve Scales - Nelson; George "Red" Schwartz - Counter Man; Heather Shaw - Choir Girl; K. Marilee Smith; T. Maggie - Country Squire Bulldog; The Crew - Gas Station Rapper; The Texas Kid - Hitchhiking Cowboy; Henry George Wyche, Jr.; Robert Ridgely - Richard Graves; John Carpenter
Credit
Stephen Lineweaver - Art Director, Bob Miller - Associate Producer, Ron Bozman - Associate Producer, Billy Hopkins - Casting, Risa Bramon - Casting, Eugenie Bafaloukos - Costume Designer, Jonathan Demme - Director, Craig McKay - Editor, Camilla Toniolo - Editor, John Saxon - Executive Producer, Laurie Anderson - Composer (Music Score), John Cale - Composer (Music Score), Carlos Alomar - Songwriter, Harold Baile - Songwriter, Arthur Baker - Songwriter, Tina Baker - Songwriter, David Bean - Songwriter, N.S. Bopare - Songwriter, David Bowie - Songwriter, Manley Buchanan - Songwriter, David Byrne - Songwriter, Ali Campbell - Songwriter, Franklyn Campbell - Songwriter, Robin Campbell - Songwriter, Exene Cervenka - Songwriter, Lisa Chadwick - Songwriter, Thomas Corey - Songwriter, Danny Darst - Songwriter, Martha Davis - Songwriter, Neil Diamond - Songwriter, Robert Dockett - Songwriter, Sam Dotson - Songwriter, Danny Elfman - Songwriter, F. Ennui - Songwriter, F.A.S. - Songwriter, Earl Falconer - Songwriter, Cheo Feliciano - Songwriter, Robert Forester - Songwriter, Bill Garvey - Songwriter, Jerry Harrison - Songwriter, Norman Hassan - Songwriter, Jean-Michel Jarre - Songwriter, Jerry Johnson - Songwriter, Marilyn Jones - Songwriter, Jeff Jourard - Songwriter, Mitch Kaplan - Songwriter, Vivian Keith - Songwriter, Kris Kristofferson - Songwriter, Don Letts - Songwriter, Little Steven - Songwriter, Louis Marriot - Songwriter, Pat McDonald - Songwriter, Grant McLennan - Songwriter, L. McQueen - Songwriter, Glen Mercer - Songwriter, Herbie Miller - Songwriter, Bill Milling - Songwriter, Chuck Napier - Songwriter, Wazmo Nariz - Songwriter, New Order - Songwriter, Sonny Okossun - Songwriter, L. Palmer - Songwriter, N. Peters - Songwriter, E. Piliso - Songwriter, Rev. Jim Roch - Songwriter, Scott Rogness - Songwriter, Pete Shelley - Songwriter, Chip Taylor - Songwriter, Sidonia Thorpe - Songwriter, Brian Travers - Songwriter, Jasper van't Hof - Songwriter, Michael Virtue - Songwriter, Richard Walters - Songwriter, Bill Wharton - Songwriter, Marijohn Wilkin - Songwriter, Terence Wilson - Songwriter, Yellowman - Songwriter, Joan York - Songwriter, John Doe - Songwriter, Steve Jones - Songwriter, Jack White - Songwriter, Ronald Harris - Songwriter, Richard Dean - Makeup, Tony Jannelli - Camera Operator, Norma Moriceau - Production Designer, Tak Fujimoto - Cinematographer, Kenneth Utt - Production Manager, Jonathan Demme - Producer, Edward Saxon - Producer, Kenneth Utt - Producer, Billy Reynolds - Set Designer, John Robotham - Stunts, Max E. Frye - Screenwriter, James Brown - Musical Performer, Johann Sebastian Bach - Featured Music, John Lennon - Featured Music
