Review of Repo Man (1984) by Jesse O — 21 Jul 2012

This is definitely a product of its time. Alex Cox's debut film is a wild and inventive, albeit messy mix of sci-fi, dark humor, G-Men, and punk rock, and it all revolves around the world of car repossession.

Otto is a young down trodden punk who reluctantly gets a job as a repo man, a job he at first scoffs about, but comes to love, mostly due to the quick cash, and the exciting car chases that result, mostly due to the fact that they're an inescapable aspect of the job.

All seems to be going fine enouh, but he suddenly gets thrust into a mad cap screwball plot that's such a wacky and convoluted mess that it makes fellow cult classic The Big Lebowski seem normal and mainstream by comparison.

The movie is defintiely inventive, and has lots of neat ideas, and, while I can't fault a film in general for trying to be ambitious, I think Cox tried a little too hard and tried to throw too much into the mix with this one. It's all so absurd and weird and really doesn't come together all that great, yet, the film's not boring, and is made better by the performances from Emilio Estevez as Otto, and Harry Dean Stanton as the repo guru Bud. Also, Olivia Barash sticks out as being attractive in a rahter odd way (to me at least). I dunno, it was late at night whe nI watched it, and I was tired, and it seemed like she was more "out there pretty" than "regular pretty".

Anyways, this movie's not great, but it's not a full on train wreck either. It's flawed, yet still kinda fun. If you're into films that defintiely aren't predictable, and have an appreciation for punk, then give this a spin.