Wild at Heart

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Wild at Heart

R

1990

2h 5m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

66%

Tomatometer

59 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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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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Steve Murray

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sep 23, 2025

Wild, yes. But not much heart.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Sight & Sound

Jan 11, 2020

Perhaps the major problem is that despite Cage and Dern's best efforts, Lynch is ultimately interested only in iconography, not characters at all.

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Scott Tobias

The Dissolve

Apr 27, 2015

4/5

There's a spontaneous, anything-can-happen feeling to it that's the primary appeal of any road movie.

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Ian Thomas Malone

ianthomasmalone.com

Jun 15, 2026

The third act has a lot to say about the power of love to cut through life’s endless noise, a fitting dynamic for a film that’s mostly parlor tricks from a man capable of better.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Mar 16, 2026

5/5

Hailed as self-indulgence at the time, Wild at heart is actually pin-sharp, on-message and an exciting, threatening trip to the wild heart of an American nightmare...

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Noah Berlatsky

Everything is Horrible (Substack)

Jan 23, 2025

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.

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Andrew

Mar 16, 2025

The muscle car of movies. Tour de force of cinema.

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Dr. Sina W

@RT65098475 Jul 24, 2026

Not really... When I first saw it many years ago, I was surprised by the explicit violence. Beyond that? Not much worth mentioning. Rewatching it didn't bring any new insights. I often wonder why Lynch is celebrated as a great filmmaker when so much of what he did seemed to be little more than delivering violence for desensitized viewers. The one star goes to Dern, Cage and Dafoe, who gave great, crazy performances.

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Thyaagu C

@Thyaagu Jun 26, 2026

Not quite satisfying. This had its moments, but it never fully clicked with me. True Romance > Wild at Heart.

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Jesse T

@Jess800 May 3, 2026

Imagine an artsy perverted student film starring professional actors, moving from one cringey scene to another. Cheesy dialogue, terrible acting, and all around silliness from start to finish. Lynch at his absuridist teenage wet dream low point. Only die hard Lynch fans can enjoy this garbage.

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Cecilia T

@CBCB2000 Feb 16, 2026

I really enjoyed it when I was 25, I could get right into the vibe and the carefree adventure feeling, which I cherished at the time. Thinking back at it now at 40, realise I might not enjoy it as much, probably would feel juvenile

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Dallas H

@FozzieMcFly Dec 29, 2025

First of all, I love the needle drops of a music soundtrack. Second of all, I usually am annoyed with sex scenes in movies because I think they're useless and boring for a film. Still, for some crazy reason, David Lynch drops a few raunchy moments in his films, and I don't give a single ounce of worry about it. Finally, I enjoyed this movie much more with a repeated viewing than when I first watched it many years ago.

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David Lynch

Director

Nicolas Cage

Sailor

Laura Dern

Lula

Diane Ladd

Marietta Fortune

Willem Dafoe

Bobby Peru

Isabella Rossellini

Perdita

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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

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