Cherry 2000 (1987)

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nTitle: Cherry 2000 (1987)

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nDirector: Steve De Jarnatt

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nCast: Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, Pamela Gidley, Laurence Fishburne, BrionnJames, Tim Thomerson, Robert Z’Dar

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nReview:

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nCherry 2000 is one of those movies that once completed; had the headnhonchos over at Orion Pictures  scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to sell the picture. A Romantic postnapocalyptic movie? Do they sell it to the female demographic because its lead isnan actress and it has romantic elements attached to it? Or do they sell it tonthe male audience, because of its post-apocalyptic/action/adventure elements? Isnit a comedy or an action film, or what? This ambiguity held the film back, notnknowing who to sell the movie to always gives studio heads cold feet. Thisninsecurity from part of the studio is what killed the movie. Even though it wasnfilmed in 1985, it ended up being released in theaters in 1987! And that wasnonly in foreign countries! It made its way to American audiences through home videonmarket in 1988 which is when I first got a glimpse of it and where it acquired itsncurrent cult status. It wasn’t even deemed worthy of a theatrical release innthe United States;nas a result, the film was a huge flop. I guess it was just too off beat fornsome people.  But was it? Read on mynfriends!

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nCherry 2000 is all about a guy named Sam Treadwell, a guynwho’s extremely happy because he has this smoking hot blonde bomb shell waitingnfor him at home. She looks beautiful, she has dinner ready for him (hisnfavorite dish: Cheese Burgers and French Fries!) and she has nothing but goodnthings to say to Sam. She’s also willing to have sex on the kitchen floor atnthe tip of a hat! No problemo! Oh wait, I failed to mention that this magicalnlady is also a cyborg! A robotic model called Cherry 2000! So one day, when Samnand Cherry are ‘doing it’ on the kitchen floor, they get so into each othernthat they don’t realize that the dishwasher is over flowing and the soapy waternbegins to pour all over the floor; they are so into each other that they don’t care.nProblem is that Cherry is a cyborg, and the soapy water messes up her circuits!nShe ends up shorting out right there on the kitchen floor! What’s Sam to do nownthat he doesn’t have his ‘perfect woman’? Send a bounty hunter to find the samenmodel that’s what! And there’s no better bounty hunter for the job than E. Johnson.nThe real problem is that this Cherry 2000 model is so old that one of the fewnremaining models can only be found in a post apocalyptic wasteland called ‘Zonen7’. Will E. Johnson and Sam find the new Cherry 2000 and make it out of Zone 7 alive? 

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nSo yeah, I think it’s safe to say that this film is ‘offnbeat’, but not off beat enough to deserve the kick in the groin that it gotnfrom the studio, I mean, I’ve seen far stranger films that’s for sure. Still, Inhave to admit that a romantic/post-apocalyptic/comedy/action/adventure is quitenthe mash up of genres. Genre mixing is a risky move for any studio, but somentimes the illusion of novelty that these films offer works; for example Back tonthe Future III (1990) a film that mixed science fiction elements with a western,nor Army of Darkness (1992) which was a mixture of horror and slapstick comedynwith a good measure of adventure thrown in.  Since Cherry 2000 is a difficult film toncategorize within a particular genre, well, it then becomes a hard sell becausenthe studio doesn’t know on what channel or magazine they are going to spendntheir advertising money.  The thing aboutnHollywood isnthat they like a sure thing, and films like Cherry 2000 do not offer them that.nHollywood willnrarely take a chance with films of this nature.

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nBut this doesn’t make Cherry 2000 any less watchable, andnfilms like this always find their audience one way or another. Monster Squad (1987)nis an example I always use. Monster Squad was a mixed genre film. It mixed ankids movie, with monsters. Hollywoodndidn’t know who to sell it too, it was too scary for kids and too kiddie fornadults. As a result, the film was a box office flop even though it was actuallyna good flick. Audiences found it anyway on home video, and so, Monster Squad’s isncurrently one of those beloved cult classics people can’t seem to get enough of.nMelanie Griffith says that Cherry 2000 is her least favorite movie (must be allnthose shameless one liners she hurls through out the whole film) yet recognizesnthat it has a cult following. What is it that people find likable about Cherryn2000? It could be various things, but one of them has to be Melanie Griffithnlooking all sorts of hot, she’s sexy and tough all rolled up into one. She’s anone liner spewing loner with a heart of gold. She’s a kick ass driver, and hasna cool looking red mustang with buttons and doo dads that make the car gonfaster. She fires freaking rocket launchers for god sakes! This is one toughnchick, which equals sexy on many a fan boys book. E. Johnson is thenquintessential ‘bad girl’. Then there’s of course her car, which I should havenincluded in my 40 Memorable Movie Cars article I wrote a while back. The car isnall sorts of awesome and it of course steals the show in some sequences, thenmost memorable one of course is the one where E. Johnson shoots her guns whilenhanging from her red mustang, which is being dangled over the Hoover Dam. Whichnby the way I have to commend, that was a real stunt. Not CGI, not miniatures…that’sna real car and a real stunt person hanging from that car! The sequence is thenmost spectacular in the whole film.

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nThematically speaking, Cherry 2000 speaks about, amongstnother things, classism. Sam and E. Johnson encounter a colony of survivors whonlive on top of a mountain called “Sky Ranch”. They have all the commodities,nhave all the parties, all the food, but it you are not like them, they’llnprobably end up killing you. The film also addresses women’s rights; the ideanthat women are not robots, or sex slaves or merely there to have your mealnready when you get home. The film speaks about women’s right to an opinion, tonexpress themselves, to have careers, to have feelings that need to be takenninto consideration.  Basically, the filmnspeaks rather bluntly about how women aren’t in this world to serve men asnslaves. They have their own lives to live and their own choices to make; and E.nJohnson is representative of that. She’s the anti-thesis of what some mennexpect of a woman. Sam is the typical guy who thinks all he wants is thisnpretty little house wife who looks beautiful all day long and will have hisndinner ready when he gets back. E. Johnson is the independent girl who knowsnhow to look out for herself, she’s opinionated, driven and has time for lovenand sweetness at the same time. In the end, this is a film that speaks about accepting each other the way we are, warts and all. Nobody is perfect, so why should we expect perfection from others? 

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nUltimately, this isn’t the best film ever made. It hasnaction and likable characters, but sometimes runs into dull areas. It’s anmish-mash of genres, but if you’re ready for that well, you should have nonproblem. Also, the film is peppered with cameos from genre favorites like anvery young Lawrence Fishburne playing a lawyer in a dance club called ‘The GlunGlu Glub’. We also get to see Brion James and even the big jawed dude Robert D’Zar,nbetter known for his contributions to Maniac Cop (1988). The one who willnprobably get the most recognition from hardcore genre veterans is Tim Thomersonnas Lester, the leader of the crazy colonists. Some of you genre loving fans outnthere might recognize him from many Full Moon productions like Dollman (1991)nand Trancers (1985) where he played the time traveling dude, Jack Death. Manynwill probably see a bit of  Mad Max innCherry 2000 because of its post apocalyptic roots, but in all honesty, it remindednme more of Susan Seidelman’s Making Mr. Right (1987) only in reverse. On thatnone the nature of relationships is also explored by using cyborgs as the mainnthrust for the film, only on that one it was a male cyborg played by JohnnMalkovich. This of course proves once again that one of the best film genres tonexplore the realities and complexities of humanity is science fiction.  

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nRating: 2 ½ out of 5

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