18 out of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Simply fantastic

blunderwood from East Sussex, 5th February, 2004

I took two unsuspecting friends to see this film at the cinema. When it finished I laughed for 20 minutes non-stop. My friends said nothing.

This is a David Lynch Tour de Force. It starts with Nicolas Cage smashing a guy's head in to the sound of heavy metal. That's a warning to the faint hearted to leave now or else. Then there's sex, violence, crime, Elvis impressions, jealousy, envy, deception, more violence, the Wizard of Oz and the open road.

Great performance from Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe as the ugliest man on the planet.

Possibly my favourite David Lynch movie... if there weren't so many good ones to choose from.

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13 out of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Entertaining David Lynch Movie

Noel Clay from Bromsgrove, England, 2nd April, 2004

This film came out around the same as Twin Peaks made David Lynch a household name. I'm not a HUGE fan of his early work, but as a general rule anything by Lynch is worth seeing at least once.

It stars the brilliant Nicolas Cage as ex-convict Sailor, who is obsessively in love with Lula (Laura Dern). The two of them set out on a road trip to escape from Lula's evil mother and her croneys, and plenty of Lynch-style weirdness ensues. To top it all off there are numerous references to 'Wizard of Oz' in the story.

It's not an easy film to watch -- lots of violence, gore and unsettling scenes as you'd expect from this director, and most of them don't really add anything to the film. Nevertheless, there's some great stuff here and I'd definitely recommend it to Lynch fans.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Roland#4 from HAYLING ISLAND, 24th May, 2004

If you know David Lynch's work then this will be very familiar territory. A little too familiar in fact, this often comes across as a series of recycled or re-interpreted moments from Twin Peaks, not quite as effective the second time round. But, although it doesn't really work as a whole, there are more than enough individual scenes and excellent performances to keep you entertained. Dern is tremendously trashy and the ever reliable Defoe is particularly grotesque.
Amongst the shocking violence and black humour, highlights include a brilliant "head blown off with shotgun" moment that is worth the rental by itself.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Wild!

harley1 from Greater London, 7th April, 2004

If you like Lynch this film is going to rock your world and I am certain that even if you don't like Lynch, you will love this film!

There's no lack of action, desire or violence as Lula (Dern) and Sailor (Cage) weave a story of love so tainted, yet enchantingly pure it's maddening. There's no lack of red lips, painted nails or great tunes in this trip through wonderland.

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Classic!

A Customer from Yorkshire, 17th February, 2010

A classic film - watched it years ago and had forgotten just how 'wierd' it is!

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Brilliant Laura Dern

Perdurabo from , 8th January, 2010

I had forgotten how good this film is. I had only previously seen its cinema release nearly twenty years ago. The passage of time has only sharpened my perception for it's many points of excellence. It follows the traditional Lynch trajectory although there is rather more coherent plot progression than in many of his other films. But the acting honours must go to Laura Dern who turns in a tour de force as the feckless and vapid love interest of Nicolas Cage. I found her descriptive monlogue about her insane cousin and her hysterical over reaction to the succesion of grim news announcement on the car radio, absolutely side splitting. How does Lynch dream up these extraordinary scenarios? Sadly Ms. Dern appears to have disappeared into semi retirement but at the time, she was something of a Lynch regular. I rate this film as more enjoyable than Blue Velvet made five years earlier. It is more light hearted than its predecessor, less densely mystifying than Mulholland Drive and infinitely more accessible and engaging than Inland Empires. But you would like me, have to be something of a Lynchophile to really get into it.

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Weird but absorbing

2newts from , 18th November, 2009

lots of strange characters and happenings but thoroughly entertaining and watchable.

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*** May contain spoilers ***

Sailor Ripley Really Sets The Night On Fire!!

A Customer from Wolverhampton, 16th September, 2009

I have to admit that secretly I am quite a huge fan of 'David Lynch' and his unconventional storytelling, after first being introduced to his work in 1990 with the brilliant but bizarre 'Twin Peaks' and later the unforgettable 'Blue Velvet'. This movie was evidently a labour of love for Lynch and I think that comes across, as it has all the elements of a classic 'Road Movie' along with his own unique twisted edge. Also I feel this particular film contributed massively in the inspiration behind 'Quentin Tarantino's' 1993 screenplay 'True Romance'. Here we have two young lovers, 'Sailor & Lula' whose love is so intense and unbreakable that even after a spell in prison for Sailor and the constant attempts to ruin their relationship from her demented overbearing mother, it seems that nothing can extinguish the flames of their inferno like passion for one another. Sailor is played by 'Nicholas Cage' (Who I think is genius in his more quirkier roles) and he really delivers a fine performance as an 'Elvis' loving rebel, complete with gold snakeskin jacket (Cage's Own), super sexy personality and a wild temper that equals his heart. Lula (Laura Dern) is a sweet blonde sexpot with a smokin' hot body and ultra trashy wardrobe. Although she comes across as innocent & quite naive, underneath her character is deeply flawed as Lula hides the shame of sexual abuse and battles constantly with the dark visions that have haunted her since the murder of her beloved father. After Sailor is released from prison, he decides to take his girl and leave North Carolina (As it holds bad memories for them both) to make a new life in California, plus he also knows that Lula’s domineering witch mother 'Marietta' refuses to release the suffocating reign she holds over her daughter. Dern’s real life mother ‘Diane Ladd’ was nominated for an academy award for her portrayal of the calculating, devious and deeply disturbed Marietta Fortune, a woman who is jealous of Lula’s youth & beauty, and also harbors secret desires for Sailor despite him rejecting her advances. As we follow their sex fuelled road trip, the lovers encounter various weirdo’s including the very creepy & dentally challenged ‘Bobby Peru’ (Willem Dafoe), a man who clearly has lust filled designs on Lula and a shady plan that could send Sailor right back to jail. Peru is one of those grotesque characters that you loathe at first sight, and is very reminiscent of 'Frank Booth' in 'Blue Velvet'. Many well known 'Lynch' favourites playing small parts including ‘Harry Dean Stanton, Isabella Rossellini, Grace Zabriskie and the sensual beauty ‘Sherilyn Fenn'. Lots of references in this movie to ‘The Wizard Of Oz’, especially in the end when Sailor gains some much needed clarity after an encounter with ‘Glenda The Good Witch’ played by Sheryl Lee (Twin Peak’s Laura Palmer). The favourite scene for me has to be Sailor & Lula dancing like lunatics in the bar to the heavy metal band, when suddenly Sailor breaks out an impromptu rendition of Elvis Presley’s song ‘Love Me’. Who knew Cage had such a fantastic voice?

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