Wild at Heart Movie Review

Wild at Heart (1990)

Rent Wild at Heart on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link) 
Written by: Barry Gifford (novel "Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula"), David Lynch (screenplay)
Directed by: David Lynch
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd, Harry Dean Stanton
Rated: R
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Plot
Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.

Verdict
It's a strange and violent love story that's more than campy. This uses violence as a shortcut and to shock, but the couple has no depth. They are props in the story. No one acts like real people, and that's the point with the movie making several illusions to The Wizard of Oz and the dream like quality of the tale. That movie had a deeper meaning, and this doesn't. It's an exercise.
Skip it.

Review
Lynch is famous for the mind bending Mulholland Drive (2001) and Lost Highway (1997), as well as the surprisingly endearing The Straight Story (1999). In this, Diane Lad who plays Laura Dern's mother, is also her mom in reality.

I didn't expect such an aggressive opening. A guy attacks Sailor (Nicolas Cage), and he goes berserk pummeling the guy to death. That sends him to jail. Six years later, his first call is to his girlfriend Lula (Laura Dern) who waited for him. Her mom doesn't like Sailor, and forbids her to see him, not that it does much good. While you'd think Lula's mom doesn't like him because he murdered someone, she's upset that Sailor spurned her advances.

Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern play Sailor, Lula

This is weird and campy; so far removed from reality. At a club Sailor leads the band, singing an Elvis song. Sailor and Lula are driving to California, but they are unaware Lula's mom has hired people to kill Sailor. There are several Wizard of Oz references. I don't think this is interested in the political allegory. I'd guess it's more the dream like fantasy world that is Oz.

This romance seems to exist just to give the movie a plot. It's fueled by Lula's mother trying to stop them more than anything. I'm not sure why Lula waited for Sailor, other than that move required it. The pair are cartoonishly flat, and the movie injects violence whenever the pacing slows.

Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe play Sailor, Bobby Peru

They end up at Big Tuna, Texas due to a lack of funds as it's not the intended destination. That's where Sailor runs into Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe), a menacing villain that's out for Sailor who doesn't realize it. Peru proposes a bank heist. While Sailor is hesitant, he needs the money. Peru's plan is to ensure Sailor is arrested for the heist and collect the contract Lula's mother put out.

It's a wild, violent, and nearly always strange movie. It's incredibly dark with Lula's past. Flashbacks are used several times to highlight her past, but it's always to shock rather than to develop her character. This uses violence as a shortcut. Lynch didn't like the book's conclusion, injecting a Wizard of Oz-inspired fairy-tale ending that brought Sailor and Lula back together. In the book, Sailor decided Lula was better off without him and left.