Review of Repo Man (1984) by Sandra S — 24 Aug 2009

It took me a long while to realize that Repo Man was supposed to be funny: it is very tongue-in-cheek all the way through, but falls into the category of downright silly instead of amusing. Emilio Estevez gives a standard Estevez performance (the same run-of-the-mill description applies to Harry Dean Stanton, who also stars, and does what we've seen him done countless times before) starring as Otto, an outcast young adult slash ignorant dickwad who becomes inducted into the noble profession of being repo man. The job description includes following a repo man code introduced by his mentor (Stanton), but it soon becomes obvious that everyone in the company is really a cowboy working in their own interest.

The movie comes with a heavy load of plot matter: there's the 80's cop movie aesthetic combined with aliens, cosmic ideas shared by a caricature dumpster guy, and yuppie self-help and nonchalance. The score reaches videogame-like dimensions at times, but in the end the original music by The Plugz is one of more positive things about the film. Some scenes, such as the one where Otto meets alien-crazy Leila (Olivia Barash) and an agent (Susan Barnes) in a bar and watches The Circle Jerks performing, pack an ounce of mood. All in all, the movie doesn't take the time to tell a story, but is neither character-driven nor action-packed. All of the so called action in the movie comes in short sequences and lacks thrills, which is a shame for this type of a movie. Had I grown up watching this movie, I might enjoy it quite a bit, but as that is not the case, I'll just have to sneer at it.