The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

[Bonkers]

I loved this movie. But I am conflicted slightly as to the rating. I think it is a good movie and a bad movie. So does it rate a really bad rating or a really good rating?
I am of 2 minds here. So my current decision is 4 stars.
I mean, Alien lectroids from planet 10 by way of the 8th dimesion?
You just can't beat that with a stick.
So I mildly protest the 3 star rating and petition that it should be raised to the lofty status of 4 stars.
What say you fellow fans? Raise your voices and be heard. This travesty shall not go unavenged!
Ok, a little heavy I admit it.   LOL
But still, let this be fixed and I shall attain true happiness.
LOL

[Trudy]

When I first saw this movie in the 80's I was still impressionable, and young. Dr. Banzai was then and will forever be my ideal man. This  is on my best bad movie list as number one.

[Erik]

Does anyone realise that the movie wasn't supposed to be any good?

I mean, I love this film too, but the movie was supposed to be a flop, a big loss, a money pit. It was a slightly shady attempt to lose money by the production company

Not exactly true.

The production crew, producers, actors, director, writers, everyone was doing their best to make a great fun film. It was the narrow-minded view of a disturbed mind among the Powers That Be who gave the film the green light, then tried to interfere with (some even say sabotage) the film throughout shooting and into marketing. By the time the film was released, this person was so convinced that the film was terrible that he allocated almost no money for advertising, and released the film in such a limited run so as to guarantee a flop. So it wasn't so much a scheme as a pathologically self-fulfilling prophecy.

A Bad Movie or not, this film changed my life. And that's really all there is say about that.

[Tuan Jim]

Just watched this last night (25th anniversary) at the AFI Silver theater (Totally 80's III) in DC with a full house - absolutely incredible.  Movies like this are so much more fun with the right sort of audience. 

[Bonesy]

I don't really consider this a 'bad movie'. It is highly entertaining, is really original, doesn't take itself too seriously, has some great actors and has some very amusing moments. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie as did my flat mates when I put it on a few months ago.

However I'm glad it was reviewed here as I remember seeing it when I was very young and have wanted to watch it since but had no idea what the movie was called or how to track it down. It wasn't until I read this review I realised this must have been it. Like a few other movies reviewed on this website I rate Buckeroo Banzai more of a cult movie rather than a bad movie.

[Andrew]

I don't really consider this a 'bad movie'. It is highly entertaining, is really original, doesn't take itself too seriously, has some great actors and has some very amusing moments. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie as did my flat mates when I put it on a few months ago.

This certainly is more of the cult/weird type of film that I review, because it fits with the "feel" of bad movies per my tastes.  It is also one of the older reviews on the site, being one I wrote in the first year or two, and scheduled for updating at some point in the future. 

[Kampfgruppe Cottrell]

My wife and I are still Blue Blazer Regulars waiting for the call from Buckaroo.

Brian

[Joexrayguy]

I love this movie. It IS like watching a comic book in cinema form, everything is so extreme and everybody plays it so straight, they are so into it. I love that you get dropped right into the middle of the story and you kind of have to fill things in for yourself. I heard they blew most of the budget on the opening part with the rocket truck and thats why so much of the rest of the sets and effects look cheap.  BUT I like that the Black Lectroids ship has loose conduit and junk hanging around, why does everything have to be slick and chrome all the time. Some funny lines in the bar scene and possibly THE COOLEST CLOSING CREDITS I've ever seen in a movie.

[Parralax view]

This is an odd one to be sure.  Somehow some of it works, some of it doesn't.  Having a band of scientists that just happen to smoke on their instruments doesn't.  However the "decoder ring" atmosphere of the thing does.  The aliens do not work for my tastes, but their ships do.  Again, an oddity that is just quirky enough to be entertaining, and Ellen Barkin was at her prime here.