The Wild Life

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Perry H I think the reviewers are being overly harsh. The problem I think is that folks who come to this movie after watching Fast Times At Ridgemont High… and having heard that this film was written to more or less carry that torch forward, so to speak, come with high expectations. I watched this film decades ago, having no idea of the relation to FTARM. It could have been funnier. And I don’t blame Chris Penn, because most of the highlights of this movie were delivered by him. In one scene, Penn’s character is desperately trying to win back His estranged girlfriend. Penn goes into her place of employment, creates a scene which prompts security to eject him. He hands his ex GF a ring box, which stalls his ejection from the store. Then she opens the box… “It’s empty?” She looks at him questioningly “Yes… but it COULD be filled… with a ring….for you!” At this security takes hold of him once again and drags him out of the store, with Penn screaming her name. Eric Stoltz is a good actor, but He isn’t funny. He is famously not funny. He was cut from the role of Marty McFly in Back To The Future after a few weeks of shooting because “He wasn’t funny enough”. He was sublime in Two Weeks In The Valley, but not so much here. IMHO, the movie would have gone over so much better had they chosen a more humorous sidekick for Penn. Someone that could have made better use of the setups that Penn delivered through his antics. Still, it’s worth a watch. I love EVH’s overlay of guitar work, as well. When I first saw the movie in the 80s, I thought the studio found an EVH soundalike and exploited him for the soundtrack. Turned out it WAS EVH. Just don’t go into this film expecting too much… and it will likely give you a handful of belly laughs, as it did for me. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/25 Full Review Horror fan 4 Absolutely loved this movie. Great performances starting with Chris penn and Eric stoltz. So many memorable lines and scenes. It's a underrated movie. Tim Treakle. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/15/25 Full Review Anthony T Nope. Not funny. Chris Penn cannot carry a lead actor spot. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 12/29/24 Full Review Steve D There are a number of fun bits but not enough story here. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/08/23 Full Review jordan m I think if this had come out before Fast Times and people had called that movie the sequel to this one they would mostly have changed places in terms of memorability and cult status. There's really not a ton of separation in terms of quality here, but mostly because it's just very similar characters in a different collection of scenarios than Fast Times had. I did like the Vietnam-fascinated kid but thought Chris Penn's character would've been more endearing if Sean had played him instead. Probably the best part of the movie is the musical score and soundtrack, with plenty of excellent songs on it. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Watching a movie about young idiots a third of my age, with only about a third of my IQ, is bad enough. What makes it worse is when the adults in the movie act even more idiotic, and act stupider then the kids do! Stink bomb! Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Wild Life

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