Kat's Film Reviews: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Friday, April 30, 2004

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

As one reviewer puts it, "switch off your cynicism" when you watch this film. Difficult for me to understand how anyone watching it could take it seriously, but it takes all kinds. It involves the adventures (aptly named) of a rock-n-roll-guitar-playing, martial-arts-devotee, particle-physics-tinkerer brain surgeon. See what I mean? Silly stuff. Besides it having one of the two most handsome leading men, Peter Weller, as its main character (you'll have to guess the other one), it includes everyone else fromthe 1980s, and I do mean everyone. Ellen Barkin is the sultry seductress, Clancy Brown plays a good guy for a change (I guess he turned bad guy later), Jeff Goldblum is a fellow (but nutty) brain surgeon, Christopher Lloyd and Dan Hedaya are some of the bad "lectroids from Planet 10," heck, even Detective Taggart from Beverly Hills Cop is here. Last but not least, John Lithgow goes WAY over the top to play the Italian scientist, delusional due to a bad particle physics experiment. It's a cult movie, sure, andnot just because of all the great character actors. Many quotable lines -- my fave is "no, no, don't tug on that, you never know what it might be attached to" as Weller and Goldblum are inside someone's brain. You want a really good laugh? Watch this. Better yet, own it. It's something you'll return to again and again.

year: 1984
length: 103 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/combined

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