Cherry 2000 (1987)

Love the red hair!
Let me be upfront: Melanie Griffith is my favorite actress. There is a naivete about her that is both endearing and attractive. There are actresses who always exhibit certain traits no matter what role they play or how well they play it: Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, and Goldie Hawn. Add Melanie to the list. She speaks slowly and softly in a measured sort of way. These traits are used to perfection in "Born Yesterday" and "Paradise" where they are key to the character.

So, it is bizarre and simultaneously perfect casting to hire Melanie as an action hero. Only a vulnerable woman could portray a supposedly hardboiled tracker who serendipitously falls in love with her client. Lovesick and distraught over the loss of his Cherry 2000 bot, Sam reluctantly hires Melanie, a mere woman, to fetch a replacement bot stored in the badlands of a post-apocalyptic West. Why she falls in love with him is anyone's guess. Here's mine. Considering the men she sees on a daily basis--psychos, wackos, and dirty, unattractive edge dwellers--Sam looks like every woman's dream man. Although he is physically attractive, a man whose dream woman is a bot is seriously lacking essential brain matter. However, if I were to acquire a bot that looked like Gerard Butler, who adored me and wanted to please me and only me, well, ok, I get it now. A perfect bot as the dream woman. Sam, go get your bot.

Now to the nitty-gritty: Their first obstacle is the barricade just outside the edge of town, designed to destroy a vehicle, but this vehicle--a muscled Ford Mustang-- bulls itself through without serious damage. Then E positions her car j-u-u-u-st right for the Great Magnet. When she climbs out and hangs off the car, to tie the rope on, I really want to laugh. Then the Uzis fire bullets all around but ne'er hitting them yet their guns hit the bad guys. Oh, the dead driver of the magnet keeps falling just right to shift the right gear to move the car right along into perfect position. Then get that car into the drainage ditch. Say wha? And she says it was easy this time.

Oh, let's visit Uncle Jake, the famous retired tracker, who taught E everything he knows, for food and a safe place to sleep. How convenient!

Let's repair an ancient airplane, get it off the ground amidst a hail of unfriendly bullets. Run into Ginger, the old girlfriend--ok, I see why he went to a bot--Ginger is another wacko, especially after Len is killed and she is concerned about those sandwiches. Of course, this strange behavior could be a cover for her disorientation now that her meal ticket is dead.

And, oh, Sam learns that bots cannot truly replace a living, functioning human woman with a mind of her own to challenge, to admire, to love in unpredictable ways. In the final analysis, bots are predictable. One of the most deadly killers in a relationship is the same ol, same ol--predictability.

Overall, this is a fun movie. Yes, it has silliness, but that is part of its fun. Seeing tiny, dainty Melanie Griffith as an action hero shooting bazookas is the best fun of all. But the very best part is the wild red hair!

Seriously, Don't Get Serious Over This.... Just Enjoy the Ride!
Wonderful cult flick. Now every time I go to Vegas or Hoover Dam I think of the futuristic depiction this movie has of both. Just have to laugh. Watch it and enjoy.... the less thought you put into it the more enjoyable it is... it is... it is. Darn memory chip, skipping again... again.

Seriously, Don't Get Serious Over This.... Just Enjoy the Ride!
Wonderful cult flick. Now every time I go to Vegas or Hoover Dam I think of the futuristic depiction this movie has of both. Just have to laugh. Watch it and enjoy.... the less thought you put into it the more enjoyable it is... it is... it is. Darn memory chip, skipping again... again.