Under the Hula Moon (1995)
In the desert outside Cactus Gulch, Arizona, Buzzard and Betty Jean Wall live in a trailer decorated in Hawaiian themes. Betty's trying to get pregnant. Buzz wants to market "Cammo," a sun block lotion that looks like camouflage; but financing is tough to find and Betty thinks he should get a real job. Buzz's half-brother Turkey, a murderous psychopath, escapes from jail, comes to the trailer, ties up Buzz, kidnaps Betty, steals $10,000 they've just won from Publisher's Clearing Hut's Lucky Loser drawing, and heads for Mexico. Buzz is untied by Maya, an ex-girlfriend who's now a TV reporter in search of a story. They pick up Turk's trail and set out to rescue Betty.
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the audience applauded
Absolutely Fantastic
A Masterpiece!
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
The beginning of the 90s brought many "quirky" and "off-beat" independent films, a particular sub-genre of which is the semi-spiritual desert crime movie. Others of note are "Wild at Heart", "From Dusk Til Dawn", and to a certain extent "Natural Born Killers". Good films like those spawned junk like "Highway 666", "Destiny Turns on the Radio" and this ineptly surreal anti-masterpiece "Under The Hula Moon". It's a comedy that aims for a certain emotional tone, attains it, but keeps going to the point of irritation. While the pursuit across the spirit-world of the desert and the casting of Chris Penn are good ideas, the film is not dirty enough or hard enough to be a good crime movie, and isn't focused enough on laughs to really be a comedy. I won't blow the ending, but let's just say it's bad. The film is basically a bad side effect of genre-cancer. This is the dregs of indie-mania.
I started watching it, and couldn't stop. I don't know if I wanted it to get better, or just wanted to see where it would go next. It was funny, and still, not a good movie, or a bad one. I know when it was over, I felt like something had been stolen from me. It had some inklings of Raising Arizona, but not as funny. There were some "hidden" funny things, but you have to pay attention. That's not always easy with this movie. A few times I wanted to turn it off, but like looking at a car accident while it's happening, it's bad, but you can't look away. I would recommend it, if you have some mind candy time to kill. Or perhaps just want to turn your brain to mush while eating cheetos and drinking strawberry quik.
Unlike another comment here, I did not at all get the idea this movie is a Pulp Fiction rip off. However, I can see that liking this movie is very much a matter of taste.I quite liked watching it though. I caught myself being curious what the next plot twist was going to be a few times, as the development of the plot is a bit strange. I would definitely buy this if it were out on DVD.
Stephen Baldwin is so funny in this colorful comedy. Looks cool and the music was camp. See it.