07.10.09
Free Flick Fridays:
Something Wild
By Jaime Eisenbraun
This week's selection is a Jonathan Demme picture you may have missed. Something Wild is a fun-and-dangerous 80s romp featuring Melanie Griffith as an irresistibly sexy wild child, and Jeff Daniels as a buttoned-up and boring businessman desperately in need of liberation.
Something Wild
Dir. Jonathan Demme (1986)
From the geniusly diverse mind of Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married) comes today’s free flick, Something Wild. A likable (!) Melanie Griffith plays Lulu, a sexy rebel who randomly turns the world of straight-edged businessman Charles Driggs (Jeff Daniels) topsy-turvy with a series of mini-escapades. Finding that a little adventure is actually just what the doctor ordered, Driggs acquiesces to the whims of Lulu’s wild child ways.
However, the catch—there’s always a catch—arrives in the form of Lulu’s violent ex-con husband Ray (a role easily nailed by Ray Liotta), who catches up with our hero couple at Lulu's high school reunion. When Ray decides he wants Lulu back, all hell breaks loose, and the mood turns a little darker. If you've got some free time this weekend, inject a little 80s bad-assed-ness into your day and watch this movie.
Wait, did we mention the soundtrack? It’s an eclectic mixture of 80s throwbacks—Big Audio Dynamite, New World Order, The Feelies, X, Timbuk 3, Jimmy Cliff, David Byrne with Celia Cruz—wrapped up with some African folk and Chip Taylor’s Wild Thing, which of course is a good soundtrack for life.
Available on Hulu:
