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Wild at Heart

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66% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 81% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
After serving prison time for a self-defense killing, Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) reunites with girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). Lula's mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), desperate to keep them apart, hires a hit man to kill Sailor. But he finds a whole new set of troubles when he and Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe), an old buddy who's also out to get Sailor, try to rob a store. When Sailor lands in jail yet again, the young lovers appear further than ever from the shared life they covet.
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Wild at Heart

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Critics Consensus

One of director David Lynch's more uneven efforts, Wild at Heart is held together by his distinctive sensibilities and compelling work from Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern.

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Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Sight & Sound Perhaps the major problem is that despite Cage and Dern's best efforts, Lynch is ultimately interested only in iconography, not characters at all. Jan 11, 2020 Full Review Scott Tobias The Dissolve There's a spontaneous, anything-can-happen feeling to it that's the primary appeal of any road movie. Rated: 4/5 Apr 27, 2015 Full Review Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Even the title is a letdown, somehow. Rated: C- Sep 17, 2008 Full Review Noah Berlatsky Everything is Horrible (Substack) Unless your heart is a big old lump of rock, you’ve got to swoon at least a little when Sailor serenades Lula with “Love Me Tender” at the close. Jan 23, 2025 Full Review Joe Lipsett Anatomy of a Scream Podcast Network Something of an desert noir/soap opera fever dream with completely over the top performances (MVP Diane Ladd). Cage and Dern are both incredibly hot, even if the film itself feels slightly disjointed and never truly comes together cohesively. Rated: 3.5/5 Apr 4, 2024 Full Review Terry Francis Southern Voice (Atlanta) Wild at Heart's materials are so thin that the Lynchisms appear to be the film's principal reason for being. As the film runs on, the flaws accrue. Rated: 2/4 May 9, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Andrew O This movie is a classic and very underrated. The performances by Dern and Cage are unparalleled in their careers, which is saying a lot for those two. The love story feels real and their connection is timeless. The secondary characters are also well built, but Dafoe was at the top of his game and one scary dude. The sexual tension of this movie mixed with the psychotic impulses of Ladd’s character make it extremely unique. It is strange, and Cage’s Elvis like persona with the snakeskin jacket is so cool to watch. This is a dark movie and pushes viewers into uncomfortable territory, but it my favorite David Lynch project. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/07/25 Full Review Michael V A wild and crazy love story. Wild at Heart is a 1990 American romantic crime comedy-drama thriller film written and directed by David Lynch 🥰 It’s good 🙂 Worth a watch. I’d recommend it if you like this genre 👍🏼 This captivating movie is led by the amazing performances and chemistry between Cage and Dern. Young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula’s deranged, disapproving mother, who has hired a team of hitmen to cut the lovers’ surreal honeymoon short. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/29/25 Full Review Mason M A bad David Lynch movie is still a good movie. I would dare to say it's Lynch's most shocking, partially due to it opening with Nicolas Cage beating a man to death. Nothing would imply it in the movie but the world that it creates feels like a twisted hell. A good film but it doesn't give us much to connect to with the characters and never gives a reason why the world of the film is the way that it is. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/07/24 Full Review Sams K Very good one. Cage and Dern are a hit-couple here with a disturbing Dafoe and of course a terrific Harry Dean Stanton. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/28/24 Full Review Petros T Pros: an unhinged Willem Dafoe, some unexpected but delicious splatter and a polka dot dress. Cons: just about everything else. The lead is a half-decent Elvis impersonator, we're constantly teased with footage of fire as if a great reveal is coming, everything related to Marietta is straight out of a soap opera, and from a certain point on, the story just feels random: inconsequential encounters, half the main characters disappearing and then teleporting out of nowhere, and a mawkish finale. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/21/24 Full Review Chinu D It’s a really good movie Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/20/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Wild at Heart

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Movie Info

Synopsis After serving prison time for a self-defense killing, Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) reunites with girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). Lula's mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), desperate to keep them apart, hires a hit man to kill Sailor. But he finds a whole new set of troubles when he and Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe), an old buddy who's also out to get Sailor, try to rob a store. When Sailor lands in jail yet again, the young lovers appear further than ever from the shared life they covet.
Director
David Lynch
Producer
Monty Montgomery, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Steve Golin
Screenwriter
David Lynch
Distributor
Media Home Entertainment, Samuel Goldwyn Company
Production Co
Propaganda Films, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 17, 1990, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$14.5M
Runtime
2h 5m
Sound Mix
Surround