...and it isn't because I don't get or appreciate surrealism or because I missed the element of satire. I 'got it' alright. I just don't want it.
The story begins when naive college boy finds a human ear in a grown-over abandoned lot near his father's home, puts it in a bag, and takes it to the police station, where his discovery is greeted with a diffident, "Yup, that's a human ear alright." A conversation with the town sheriff's teenage daughter reveals that it might have something to do with a mysterious and glamorous lounge singer. So Jeffrey does what anyone would do- break into her apartment and spy on her, of course. And finding him hiding in her closet, listening to her phone conversations and watch her undress, the lounge singer, Dorothy, does what any woman would do under the circumstances- give him oral sex, of course! It practically goes without saying! The two of them embark on a lopsided affair that never fully blossoms, while Jeffrey woos sweet teenage Sandy on the side. Meanwhile, wrapped up in unstable Dorothy's sexual psychodrama, Jeffrey plays some cross between detective and knight and shining armor to a damsel in distress, and revels in Dorothy's co-dependent clinging, all the while knowing that this affair could get him killed.
Dorothy's lover/stalker/tormentor is a ragingly nuts, repulsively perverted mafia a-hole named Frank, in the most disgustingly creepy role in Dennis Hopper's proud legacy of playing scary, nutbag freaks. Frank's infantile-yet-violent, jack rabbit dry-humping perversion, not to mention his obliviousness to how obnoxious and repugnant it is, is enough to make you never want to have sex again. Yet, Frank and Dorothy are both quite obviously insane- what's Jeffrey's excuse for his bizarre, irrational choices? The fact that he is apparently sane and fairly intelligent makes it all the more annoying. Every single character in the film is so annoying to me that I want to smack 'em upside the head, but the two women in the story are just plain pitiful.
Sandy and Dorothy are sort of a Betty and Veronica/rose white-rose red case. Dorothy is an older, glamorous, beautiful brunette, while Sandy is a younger, pretty, virginal blonde. Sandy is the least stupid and irritating character in the beginning, but I lost patience with her after she immediately forgave Jeffrey for his affair with Dorothy with very little explanation or effort from Jeffrey, then continually pins the blame on herself for "dragging him into this" when the situation is quite the opposite. Sandy puts herself in harm's way for Jeffrey even though he has lied to her, and at the close of the film is in the kitchen happily making him lunch while he lounges around in the back yard. For his part, Jeffrey just seems like a melodramatic sap who's "in love" with whoever's there at the moment. You really can't tell if his feelings for either Dorothy or Sandy have any depth to them.
What really works my nerves, though, is the woefully corny dialog, with absurdly over-earnest lines like, "Why is there so much trouble in the world?!?!" and "You're my special friend!" Not to mention, "I looked for you in the closet last night." Granted, all these lines are kinda funny, but are they supposed to be? And who's the joke on, the characters or the viewer. Either way, if it weren't for my roommate being there to mock it with me, I would have turned this movie off about 15 minutes into it.
How movies like this gain backing, let alone a cult following, I'll never know. But when it comes to satirizing suburbia, though, give me John Waters any day.
The story begins when naive college boy finds a human ear in a grown-over abandoned lot near his father's home, puts it in a bag, and takes it to the police station, where his discovery is greeted with a diffident, "Yup, that's a human ear alright." A conversation with the town sheriff's teenage daughter reveals that it might have something to do with a mysterious and glamorous lounge singer. So Jeffrey does what anyone would do- break into her apartment and spy on her, of course. And finding him hiding in her closet, listening to her phone conversations and watch her undress, the lounge singer, Dorothy, does what any woman would do under the circumstances- give him oral sex, of course! It practically goes without saying! The two of them embark on a lopsided affair that never fully blossoms, while Jeffrey woos sweet teenage Sandy on the side. Meanwhile, wrapped up in unstable Dorothy's sexual psychodrama, Jeffrey plays some cross between detective and knight and shining armor to a damsel in distress, and revels in Dorothy's co-dependent clinging, all the while knowing that this affair could get him killed.
Dorothy's lover/stalker/tormentor is a ragingly nuts, repulsively perverted mafia a-hole named Frank, in the most disgustingly creepy role in Dennis Hopper's proud legacy of playing scary, nutbag freaks. Frank's infantile-yet-violent, jack rabbit dry-humping perversion, not to mention his obliviousness to how obnoxious and repugnant it is, is enough to make you never want to have sex again. Yet, Frank and Dorothy are both quite obviously insane- what's Jeffrey's excuse for his bizarre, irrational choices? The fact that he is apparently sane and fairly intelligent makes it all the more annoying. Every single character in the film is so annoying to me that I want to smack 'em upside the head, but the two women in the story are just plain pitiful.
Sandy and Dorothy are sort of a Betty and Veronica/rose white-rose red case. Dorothy is an older, glamorous, beautiful brunette, while Sandy is a younger, pretty, virginal blonde. Sandy is the least stupid and irritating character in the beginning, but I lost patience with her after she immediately forgave Jeffrey for his affair with Dorothy with very little explanation or effort from Jeffrey, then continually pins the blame on herself for "dragging him into this" when the situation is quite the opposite. Sandy puts herself in harm's way for Jeffrey even though he has lied to her, and at the close of the film is in the kitchen happily making him lunch while he lounges around in the back yard. For his part, Jeffrey just seems like a melodramatic sap who's "in love" with whoever's there at the moment. You really can't tell if his feelings for either Dorothy or Sandy have any depth to them.
What really works my nerves, though, is the woefully corny dialog, with absurdly over-earnest lines like, "Why is there so much trouble in the world?!?!" and "You're my special friend!" Not to mention, "I looked for you in the closet last night." Granted, all these lines are kinda funny, but are they supposed to be? And who's the joke on, the characters or the viewer. Either way, if it weren't for my roommate being there to mock it with me, I would have turned this movie off about 15 minutes into it.
How movies like this gain backing, let alone a cult following, I'll never know. But when it comes to satirizing suburbia, though, give me John Waters any day.