Wild at Heart

Name: Wild at Heart
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Romance, Crime
Released: August 12, 1990
Duration: 124 min
Rating: 52
Cast: Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage

1990

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 108 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	Your Score
6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 108 Ratings

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Wild At Heart

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Movie Details & Credits

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The | Release Date: August 12, 1990 | R

Starring: Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage

Summary: David Lynch explores old theme: the story of two people (Cage and Dern) who thoroughly love each other, of two people whose love seems so strong that nothing can corrupt it. Yet, the evil forces of murder, corruption and perversion, which lurk beneath the seemingly clean surface of modern day America transform their journey into a ghostDavid Lynch explores old theme: the story of two people (Cage and Dern) who thoroughly love each other, of two people whose love seems so strong that nothing can corrupt it. Yet, the evil forces of murder, corruption and perversion, which lurk beneath the seemingly clean surface of modern day America transform their journey into a ghost train ride and challenge their love to the extremes. (Von Marc Eberle)… Expand

Director: David Lynch

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Romance, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 124 min

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Metascore

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Mixed:

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Critic Reviews

100

Peter Travers

Starting with the outrageous and building from there, he ignites a slight love-on-the-run novel, creating a bonfire of a movie that confirms his reputation as the most exciting and innovative filmmaker of his generation. Read full review

Dave Kehr

And yet there is enough of a core of sincerity to turn even the most preposterous moments-such as the film's dream-sequence finale-into something moving and true: You buy the feelings, even as the situations degenerate into the ludicrous and absurd. [17 Aug 1990, Friday, p.C]

Empire Staff (Not Credited)

Misfit cameos, apparently random asides and an almost continuous onslaught of unsettling sex and violence mean there’s no mistaking David Lynch’s hand behind the camera -- but there’s enough of a narrative to make this work as a straightforward road movie, too. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Non Credited)

A wacky, occasionally inventive road movie that fails to display the vision or the dark intensity of director Lynch's earlier work. Read full review

Stanley Kauffmann

The best performance, the only one that can really be called acting, is Diane Ladd's as the mother. Ladd gives us a woman full of self-pity and shrewdness, full of sexual experience and guile, who has now reached the age when, if she wants to, she can turn off sexual heat in favor of cold power drive. [24 Sept 1990, p.32]

Mike Clark

One of the most violent opening scenes in screen history…Yet given such a visually adept exercise, the rest seems transparently off-the-cuff. There are obese trailer-camp porn stars, heavenly visions, a climactic rendition of Love Me Tender and no-point references to The Wizard of Oz - all of which top this two-hour farrago like a soggy tarp. [17 Aug 1990, Life, 4D]

Hal Hinson

What "Wild at Heart" feels like is a kind of housecleaning -- a disjointed collection of images and odd snatches of ideas that the director couldn't make room for anyplace else. They have no context, and as a result, no power to thrill or disturb. Read full review

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User Reviews

Habibiehakim

Jul 10, 2021

It is a weird movie, and i liked it, Wild At Heart is like the title, Wild, means the movie doesn't like any romance couples movie, it's different, we don't see a movie about two couples falling in love and then there's some bastard who take the girls and the boys got jealous, then they areIt is a weird movie, and i liked it, Wild At Heart is like the title, Wild, means the movie doesn't like any romance couples movie, it's different, we don't see a movie about two couples falling in love and then there's some bastard who take the girls and the boys got jealous, then they are fighting and in the end they're back together again, Wild At Heart is about a couples who is the boys is been planned to got killed by the girls mother, plus they have to deal with a crazy robbery man, and how is that isn't different and crazy enough, Wild At Heart delivers all of that so well, i highly recommended.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Gnarles

Feb 16, 2006

A classic, but only if you have the guts to take it.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

wrangham

Dec 22, 2011

Wild At Heart is as David Lynch describes it, a road romance movie that takes you on a journey along a twisted highway in the modern world.
If I had to describe wild at heart in three words I would say powerful, wild and romantic.
It is very different to any other lynch films as it largelyWild At Heart is as David Lynch describes it, a road romance movie that takes you on a journey along a twisted highway in the modern world.
If I had to describe wild at heart in three words I would say powerful, wild and romantic.
It is very different to any other lynch films as it largely makes sense and has a lighter feeling to it as well as a few very disturbing scenes.
The cast is star studded and excellent. Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe are captivating. Diane Laddâ… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

MattBrady99

Nov 23, 2018

"What you **** want?"

A few minutes later... "I want to apologize to you gentlemen for referring to you as homosexuals. I also want to thank you fellas; you taught me a valuable lesson in life. LUUUULAAAAA!". Crazy and surreal with a tense performance from Willem Dafoe, but also mystic."What you **** want?"

A few minutes later...

"I want to apologize to you gentlemen for referring to you as homosexuals. I also want to thank you fellas; you taught me a valuable lesson in life. LUUUULAAAAA!".

Crazy and surreal with a tense performance from Willem Dafoe, but also mystic. Nicolas Cage singing "Love Me Tender" to Laura Dern was beautiful.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

kyle20ellis

Mar 19, 2022

Wild at Heart is not David Lynch at his best, personally much prefer Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive and The Straight Story and is definitely not going to be everybody's cup of tea. But while it has its flaws Wild at Heart still impresses and fascinates in many ways, alsoWild at Heart is not David Lynch at his best, personally much prefer Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive and The Straight Story and is definitely not going to be everybody's cup of tea. But while it has its flaws Wild at Heart still impresses and fascinates in many ways, also don't think that it's his worst like some people I know in the past have said(that'd be Dune). The story does feel very randomly structured at times, especially true with Crispin Glover, and some of the pacing slackens; the film could have done with being shorter as some scenes did feel too padded and underdeveloped, and the script can be a confused jumble and not always easy to understand completely(though admittedly there are some quotable lines). There are many great things with Wild at Heart however because the cinematography is stunning, the scenery is bursting with vivid colour and there are plenty of bold colours and lighting with some of the visuals being wonderfully deranged. There is also a hypnotic soundtrack that adds so much to the feel of the film, the music choices being also quite interesting, while Lynch's direction while not the best he's ever done(tied between Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive) but it is very adept and has his unique style all over. The story is not the best but the atmosphere is just great, just loved the campiness, the eroticism and haunting weirdness, it's hardly uneventful and there are some memorable moments like the incredibly chilling robbery sequence and the ending. The Wizard of Oz references while a little over-used are fun. The characters are not likable at all, in fact in the cases of Marietta and Bobby a few of them could be seen as loathsome, but considering the atmosphere and viciously violent but also sexy content of the film it is clear that they weren't intended to be. The performances are fine, Nicholas Cage will induce polarising opinions but while he was wooden to start with he was charming and entertaining once he warmed up. Laura Dern is alluring with the two working comfortably together, while Diana Ladd manages to be both hilarious and scary and Willem Dafoe is unforgettably creepy. The cameos acquit themselves well too. All in all, incredibly strange and not without flaws but also fascinating. 7/10 Bethany Cox… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Andremax

Jun 17, 2019

It isn't a good movie at all. A cliché end and lack of cohesion. But it doesn't prevent me to enjoy watching it.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Spangle

Mar 3, 2014

Hilariously bad. The film starts off with an interesting premise but it eventually gets drowned out as David Lynch just tries to do as much weird crap as he can. The end result is a grotesque, unpleasingly disturbing film that wishes it was something that it was not. Lynch likes to believeHilariously bad. The film starts off with an interesting premise but it eventually gets drowned out as David Lynch just tries to do as much weird crap as he can. The end result is a grotesque, unpleasingly disturbing film that wishes it was something that it was not. Lynch likes to believe this is a remake of "The Wizard of Oz", but he has to have taken to much acid to believe that. Multiple random references that vary in how much sense they make (on a scale from no sense at all to a little sense if you really think about it) does not make it a remake of "The Wizard of Oz". On top of that, with some exceptions, the acting was just bad. Nicolas Cage was good in this, however, so there is that positive. At the end of the day, "Wild at Heart" is a collection of disturbing images with very little effort done to connect them. I love a good weird movie with a random assortment images, but there has to be some connecting factor but the leap from the much more realistic scenes to the weird as all hell surrealistic scenes is a leap I do not know how to make, nor do I think I want to. I wanted to like this one, but at the end of the day, I simply cannot.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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