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[tab title="Movie Review"]
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Go ahead. Revoke my membership to the cool kids table at the lunchroom. I guess I simply don’t care to hear anymore from anyone about how goddamn awful Cherry 2000 is. It’s not. Not in the least. I originally saw this during a summer film fest when I was younger. And it stayed with me ever since. Who could forget that flaming red hair? That wacky voice? Not I, sir. Not I.
Director Steve De Jarnatt’s science fiction flick – originally making its appearance in 1987 – about one man’s quest to replace his damaged robot wife is an absolute blast. Sure, sure, it’s loopy-headed as all hell but, quite honestly, it doesn’t need to hit every single target to be effective when it entertains this much.
Starring a young Melanie Griffith, Ben Johnson, Tim Thomerson, and introducing David Andrews, Cherry 2000 takes domestication on the road as one heartbroken businessman teams up with a sexy bounty hunter and crosses into dark nether regions of Nevada – referred to as The Zone – to find his android wife’s exact duplicate; a model that no one makes anymore. In this post-apocalyptic adventure, once you leave the confines of home there are dangerous enemies at prey everywhere and the further out you go, the more cult-like and deranged the people become, draped in an endless parade of floral prints and polo shirts.
It is a screenplay so ripe with social commentary that it skillfully imagines the future dating scene to involve lawyers and preemptively working out sex clauses between two consenting adults while at the same time showing us a vision of consumerism at its most twisted. Jarnatt (the writer and director of Miracle Mile) keeps a steady focus on the quest to replace the "Cherry 2000" android (Pamela Gidley) after her short circuit during sex while at the same time engaging our senses with a very dangerous landscape that is eerily familiar.
When in the city, tall shadows and neon lights fill the screen. When we enter the lawless territories we deal with classism and, ultimately, women’s rights as E. and Sam banter endlessly back and forth about women NOT being playthings. Cherry 2000 has all the important bases covered and to think Orion didn’t know what to do with this movie! Is it a fantasy? Is it Science Fiction? Is it a romance? Who cares?! Cherry 2000 is a whole hell of a lot of lawless fun.
Combining a sense of film noir with the future scene of a dusted wasteland, Cherry 2000 is B-movie Heaven. It’s the film you drink a six-pack to and just sit back and enjoy. Thomerson, as the crazy leader of the colonists in their 1950s-styled motel, wants you to do exactly that. There are plenty of moments that are head-scratchers as far as logic goes and, as it is heavy on the practical effects, plenty of moments to applaud it for. The dangling car sequence – over the Hoover Dam – with E hanging from her Ford Mustang and firing a whole lot of guns in all sorts of directions is badass, absolutely crackers, and so incredibly worth it.
Universally panned when it was originally released by every critic under the sun, Cherry 2000 – in its new blu-ray model – gets its chance to be appreciated as the forward-thinking and wickedly entertaining picture that it actually is. Don’t let the bastards win, pick up your copy of Cherry 2000 today.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: PG-13.
Runtime: 99 mins
Director: Steve De Jarnatt
Writer: Michael Almereyda
Cast: Melanie Griffith, David Andrews, Pamela Gidley
Genre: Action | Comedy
Tagline: In the year 2017, a good woman is hard to find. A Cherry 2000 is even harder.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Cherry, I want you to get me a Pepsi."
Distributor: Orion Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: February 5, 1998
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: July 28, 2015
Synopsis: In the year 2017, a rich man travels to the ends of the earth to find that the perfect woman is always under his nose. When successful businessman Sam Treadwell finds that his android wife, Cherry model 2000 has blown a fuse, he hires sexy renegade tracker E. Johnson to find her exact duplicate. But as their journey to replace his perfect mate leads them into the treacherous and lawless region of The Zone, Treadwell learns the hard way that the perfect woman is made not of computer chips and diodes, but of real flesh and blood!
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - July 28, 2015
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A
Courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics presents Cherry 2000 on a newly minted transfer. While not a complete restoration, the transfer is pretty detailed. There is a nice layer of grain to much of the sand-blasted scenery. The 1080p transfer is an upgrade from previous versions. Colors are well-saturated. Black levels are strong. The contrast is high. The release is offered in a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- Offered from Director Steve Du Jarnatt and Film Critic Walter Chow, the commentary is as solid as the picture. There is a lot to learn about the film, including the mishandling by Orion as they never truly understood what type of film they had on their hands.
Special Features:
Complete with a nice interview with Tim Thomerson, the supplemental material offered with this release is pretty solid. Thomerson, in his segment, talks about his experience making B-movies, how he gets the parts that he gets, and other recollections from his time on the set. There is a vintage making-of special and two trailers.
- Tim Thomerson Interview (13 min)
- Making-Of Cherry 2000 (6 min)
- Trailers
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[tab title="Trailer"]
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