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Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta, Margaret Colin, Tracey Walter ... see more see more... , Dana Preu , Jack Gilpin , Su Tissue , Kristin Olsen , John Sayles , Charles Napier , Kenneth Utt , Sister Carol East , The Feelies , Buzz Kilman , Leib Lensky , Anna Levine , Sandy McLeod , Jim Roche , Gary Goetzman , Adelle Lutz , Edward Saxon , Chloe Amateau , Vic Blair , Emma Bryne , Thomas Cavano , Dung Chau , Lee Joseph Davis , Dorothy Demme , Ding-A-Ling , Ardella Mary Drew , Patricia Falkenhain , Jeff Herig , James Hurd , D. Byron Hutcherson , Eleana Hutcherson , Joanna Kitchen-Hurd , Gil Lazier , Johnny Marrs , Max the Dog , Stanton D. Miranda , John Montgomery , R. Jeffery Rioux , Steve Scales , George "Red" Schwartz , Heather Shaw , K. Marilee Smith , T. Maggie , The Crew , The Texas Kid , Henry George Wyche Jr. , Robert Ridgely , John Carpenter

A wildly inventive and entertaining comic nightmare from former Roger Corman prodigy Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), this screwball odyssey is a ride to remember. Jeff Daniels plays clean-c... read more read more...ut New York bond trader Charlie Driggs, who accepts a ride home from a strange but attractive lower-class woman named Lulu (Melanie Griffith). The sexy Louise Brooks lookalike doesn't take him home, but shanghais him for a bizarre roadtrip to Virginia that includes kinky bondage sex, destruction of property, and robbery. Things get stranger when Lulu tells Charlie that her real name is Audrey and takes him home to meet her mother, asking him to pose as her husband. The charade continues until her high-school reunion, where the roadtrip (and the entire film) takes a sharp U-turn into psycho-thriller territory. Audrey's dangerously psychotic ex-con husband, Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta), shows up. What had been a liberating fling for Charlie turns into a bloody and vicious battle for survival. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Flixster Users

60% liked it

5,786 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

32 critics

R, 1 hr. 53 min.

Directed by: Jonathan Demme

Release Date: October 22, 1986

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DVD Release Date: June 5, 2001

Stats: 243 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (243)

  • phubbs1
    July 24, 2011
    phubbs1
    Sort of a more up to date version of 'After Hours' with a more extreme, loud and in your face storyline as Daniels is dragged from one humiliating scene to another by wild child Griffiths who at first seems determined to get Daniels into trouble.

    Sure enough Griffiths character... read more slowly gets Daniels in all heaps of bother as they evade checks and steal money from stores, its kinda predictable but not as uneasy watching as 'After Hours' as its more 'out there' and regular people are less likely to do that sort of thing haha

    Casting is abit off for me in this as Griffiths never was much to look at in my opinion and she hardly comes across as a law breaker whilst Daniels has never really been a good actor from day one haha.
    Things get better acting wise when Liotta turns up as the crazy jealous ex-con but the plot gets alittle out of hand too as things go from light hearted comedy to dark and uncomfortable, as only Liotta knows how, and the film becomes less enjoyable really.
  • FrizzDrop
    July 7, 2011
    FrizzDrop
    Before eccentric love stories were popularized by hipsters and Michael Cera, there was Something Wild, a dangerous, insanity ridden, lustful adventure, from the mind of Jonathan Demme. The story revolves around yuppie Charlie, and indelicate Lulu, road tripping from New York to P... read moreennsylvania, without any explanation on Lulu's part. As Charlie is seduced and easily manipulated into committing crimes and riding along with the odd Lulu, we ourselves are dejecting reality for a couple hours and falling in love with a nut job incapable of being rational. Once Lulu's true identity is revealed, and an unsavory husband, the story takes a dramatic turn, that of abuse and obsession, perpetrated by the always dark and comically insane Ray Liotta. Between the reggae covers featured in an almost diegetic way, and the bouts of incessant violence by Lulu and Ray, it's a movie split between two different plots, or more likely, personalities. Wild in every sense of the word, this is definitely perfect casting for Griffith, who is basically portraying herself, and Daniels, who is always good for a semi-gullible and yet so charismatic lead. Great road movie, great romantic drama/comedy, this is something wild.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    June 25, 2011
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    A fantastic road movie from the mind of Jonathan Demme. Totally unpredictable, kinetic fun (even when things get pretty intense and dark). Three fabulous performances from Daniels, Griffith, and Liotta (in a fierce debut). Awesome.
  • stevenecarrier
    May 12, 2011
    stevenecarrier
    Jonathan Demme's long forgotten 1986 gem "Something Wild" is a truly engaging experience. The film rockets along at a speed and tempo that I have never quite seen matched. Demme deftly combines the 'and then..." free form storytelling with a largely deterministic feel to create a... read more film that works as a romantic comedy and a thriller and still manages keep a moral center without being showy. The performances are spot on with Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith having the definition of unforced chemistry. "Something Wild" is nothing but terrific, well made, clever entertainment.
  • ajv2688
    January 27, 2011
    ajv2688
    This is a predictable romance movie, and I found it really boring. The actors are just okay, but it's not funny or dramatic or anything.
  • kenstachnik
    September 13, 2010
    kenstachnik
    This is one of those great "how did I not know about this movie" movies.

    Great performances and direction along with inventive twisty storytelling makes this an absolute pleasure to watch.
  • ythelastman89
    January 30, 2010
    ythelastman89
    I think it's actually one of the better romantic comedies of the 80s and a very interesting evaluation of the yuppie lifestyle. Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith are great together and Ray Liotta makes for an extremely evil ex-con husband. I think it's really unique in terms of f... read moreormula, I'd say it's just as much a road movie as it is anything else. While it's not visually anything stunning, it is still a great story.
  • ileo
    December 25, 2007
    ileo
    Great!
  • jusstpete
    May 13, 2012
    jusstpete
    I think it's actually one of the better romantic comedies of the 80s and a very interesting evaluation of the yuppie lifestyle.
  • tmannamt
    May 15, 2011
    tmannamt
    If it wasn't for Actor Greg Kinnear saying his favorite movie was this, I wouldn't even know what this was. But this was entertaining to watch.

View All Something Wild Reviews

Critic Reviews

William Goss
May 17, 2011
William Goss, Film.com

It begins with a meet-cute and ends with a murder, and sandwiched in between those emotional extremes are romance, regret and revenge. Full Review

Pat Graham
December 26, 2006
Pat Graham, Chicago Reader

Jonathan Demme's picaresque joyride across the American landscape is still arguably the best thing he's ever done. Full Review

Vincent Canby
May 20, 2003
Vincent Canby, New York Times

The film's principal difficulty is E. Max Frye's original screenplay, which is better thought out in terms of its narrative than of the characters. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Demme is a master of finding the bizarre in the ordinary. Full Review

Paul Attanasio
January 1, 2000
Paul Attanasio, Washington Post

A load of fun. Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 1, 2000
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

Despite the quirky trappings, Something Wild is often as tame as its star couple, a pair who scream Ivory soap and plenty of Miracle Whip. Full Review

James Kendrick
May 20, 2011
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk

The tones shift rampantly, which for some viewers can be disorienting and off-putting. But, if you're in tune with Demme's aesthetic, which usually runs counter to our cinematic intuition, it is a wil... Full Review

Christopher Long
May 16, 2011
Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis

If you don't already know where it ends up then I assure you that you have no idea where it's going to end up. Full Review

Eric Melin
May 13, 2011
Eric Melin, Scene-Stealers.com

A fun, offbeat, and mildly subversive comedy ... with unexpected twists and ... a real sense of danger. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
February 8, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

The third film in Demme's Small-Town America trilogy (the other two are Handle With Care and Melvin and Howard) centers on a new screen type, the yuppie (played to perfection by Jeff Daniels); change ... Full Review

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Something Wild Trivia

  • What film did Ray Liotta break into movies in ?  Answer »
  • Before filming an outdoor scene [Wild Things] by the river a gaffer was fixing the lights and noticed something floating in the water. it was a dead body . The police were called when they arrived they anchored the body to the dock out of sight of the cameras till after the scene was shot ?  Answer »
  • Dumb and Dumber- After the guys pull the bill-paying stunt on Sea Bass, Harry asks Lloyd where he got that idea. Lloyd tells him that he saw it in a movie. This is a reference to the movie Something Wild (1986) in which Jeff Daniels does the same thing to Ray Liotta.   Answer »
  • Who wiskes Jeff Daniels away on a wild adventure in "Something Wild"?   Answer »
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