Review of Wild at Heart (1990) by Paul N — 07 Apr 2009

Lynch's juvenile delinquent road movie beast of an action thriller is a hybrid of Elvis movies, THE WIZARD OF OZ, a demented Tennessee Williams play in Hell, and Americana in general. It's brutal, cheesy, inspired, deeply unpleasant and races along like a blood-red Cadillac.

.. until it runs out of gas about two-thirds in, as Sailor and Lula -- our couple on the lam -- decide to lay low in a tract housing estate to plan their next move. Despite the introduction (and explosive exit) of a wonderfully reptillian Willem Dafoe, the movie seems to tread water for a good half hour before ambling to a climax.

There's plenty here to grab your attention, and it is beguiling trash on an operatic scale -- Lynch and his cast & crew are clearly having a blast -- but there's no getting around the fact it outstays its welcome by at least 20 minutes.