Something Wild

Directed by Jonathan Demme, Something Wild follows straightlaced executive Charles Driggs (Jeff Daniels) as he’s drawn into a series of adventures after he meets Melanie Griffith’s impulsive and spontaneous Audrey Hankel. It’s a rather routine storyline that’s perpetually employed to striking, enthralling effect by Demme, as the filmmaker, working from a script by E. Max Frye, does a superb job of peppering the narrative with eclectic elements that effectively (and undoubtedly) enhance the picture’s indelible atmosphere – with, especially, Demme’s penchant for utilizing a combination of unknown and familiar folks in small roles certainly elevating the material on an ongoing basis. (The movie does, after all, feature appearances by both John Waters, Charles Napier, and John Sayles within the span of a couple minutes.) There’s little doubt, however, that Something Wild’s greatest asset is its performances, as Daniels and Griffith, aside from sharing a palpable chemistry together, step into the shoes of their respective characters with an ease that’s nothing short of hypnotonic – although it’s equally clear that Ray Liotta, cast as a figure from Audrey’s past, completely dominates his assortment of sequences within the movie’s latter half. And while the picture is perhaps just a tad longer than necessary, Something Wild finishes with a spellbinding climactic stretch that does, when coupled with a fantastic closing-credits interlude, cement its place as a typically sterling endeavor from an impressively consistent (and masterful) filmmaker.

***1/2 out of ****