Rude Awakening (1989) User Reviews

From Flashback to Déjà Vu

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 31 July 2008]

In 1969, peace loving hippies Eric Roberts (as Fred) and Cheech Marin (as Hesus) flee to Central America, to avoid being drafted into Vietnam War service. Why the US government believes Mr. Marin would be of any real use during warfare is never explained; but, Mr. Roberts looks like a major Commie-killing loss. Anyway, they spend the next 20 years hiding in the jungle, smoking marijuana, and enjoying peace. Their hippie friends, Julie Hagerty (as Petra) and Robert Carradine (as Sammy), remain behind. While in Central America, Roberts and Marin learn about a US invasion plan, and decide to return to New York, and stop the war. They are in for a rude awakening...

In 1989, the peace movement appears dead. Roberts and Marin try to adapt to the changes in American society. They try to re-connect with Ms. Hagerty and Mr. Carradine, who have become materialistic yuppies. How can they erase their friends' 1980s brainwashing, avoid capture by perseverating FBI man Cliff De Young (as Brubaker), and stop the war?

Aaron Russo and Neil Levy's underrated "Rude Awakening" certainly doesn't always work; but, it's funny more often than not. Roberts and Marin are almost a satirical casting in-joke (sixties, meet the eighties). One of the film's most obvious misses is that the main attempt to transcend a 20-year-gap is an unconvincing pair of pasted-on beards. Although, to answer Roberts' later, more general question, "How's my hair?" Great. It's impossible to hold back laughing at Marin's first meeting with the "fish". But, they should have used Don Knotts voice. Of the four "hippie" friends, Carradine's is, performance-wise, most convincing. Check out Louise Lasser (as Ronnie)'s customers!

The highlight of the film is a terrific "cocktail party" hosted by Carradine and uptight wife Cindy Williams (as June). They are visited by the "Stools", Buck Henry (as Lloyd) and Andrea Martin (as April). A cocktail party attended by Cheech Marin, Eric Roberts, Robert Carradine, Buck Henry, Cindy Williams, and Andrea Martin is every bit as funny as it sounds. If only they could have figured out how to get Lasser there (and the overhead mike out). There are enough funny moments, all around; but, the hilarious supporting characterizations by Martin and Williams, alone, make this well worth watching.

****** Rude Awakening (1989) Aaron Russo ~ Eric Roberts, Cheech Marin, Andrea Martin

Toothless fun

[redcrossaint · 5/10 · 27 July 2022]

I'll get this out of the way for further reference. "Rude Awakening" follows two aging hippies hiding out in a jungle after being hunted by the US government in 1969, for dabbling in a few anti-Vietnam war movements. After 20 years hiding out, they accidentally discover a conspiracy to start a war and split the country up. So, basically, the movie attempts to bridge the idea of missing 20 years of current events with a few comedic scenes to set that whole deal up.

There are a lot of movies that work and don't work because of the care and energy put into them. "Rude Awakening" has about as much care as sandpaper grating on a chipping wall, but some of it does work. It's a terrible film - limp, crude, stupid and predictable, but yet, entertaining and strangely charming. It is not worth anything. Its closing credits are dumbfounding, stating that this picture is dedicated to all the planet lovers, after the movie has given us an overlong, hammered message of more or less the same. You know, it's funny. This movie is funny. I don't know why - perhaps it is because it has some truly insane dialogue about modern (1989) problems in our world and also some clunky dialogue about hippies. But it sustains quite a few laughs, no doubt to Cheech Marin, who is sometimes hilarious. The movie was co-directed by David Greenwalt and Aaron Russo, with the latter the previous manager of Bette Midler's singing career. They do a horrible job. They film it in wide, inexpressive camera angles and load it with scene-chewing bad directorial choices, like having Julie Hagerty biting a tub of ice cream open while yelling at the hippies. It's something you have to see to believe. It's shoddy filmmaking, but the jokes sometimes work effectively, and I laughed a lot. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the movie, rather I was confused by it, but I was entertained, and I would say it is much better than expected. It deals with its issues poorly, yes, but some of the comic timing really works.

Rude Awakening (1989)

2 STARS (OUT OF 4)

Directed by David Greenwalt and Aaron Russo

Written by Richard LaGravenese

Starring Cheech Marin, Eric Roberts, Julie Hagerty and Robert Carradine

Rated R

100 minutes.

Too many characters in the joint spoils the reefer.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 20 July 2022]

This certainly is far from being a modern comedy classic, starts off as a very funny parody on the hippie age versus the yuppie age, going from 1969 to 1989 within 20 minutes, and if rather forced, getting some big laughs from me. The problem is that once you get used to one set of characters that Cheech Marin and Eric Roberts run into upon their return to New York after two decades in South America in hiding for draft evasion, you get more, all introduced early on in the lengthy prologue, and from them a few more. Julie Hagerty, once Roberts' girlfriend, is now a highly neurotic fashion designer, and old pal Robert Carradine (coming back in rather late) is a pretentious yuppy, now married to prissy Cindy Williams.

Then there's Louise Lasser as the mother hen of the hippies who doesn't age in 20 years, running a fancy coffee shop that's a haven for annoying tourists and slumming snobs, and Buck Henry and Andrea Martin as Carradine and Williams' neighbors, with Martin falling under Marin's spell. Cliff De Young plays a nasty government agent who has been after Roberts and Marin for decades, accentuated now because of the papers that they have proving that the government is out to start war in a third world South American country so they can take over.

The movie is frequently funny, but overall, it's a bit too much, even though there's a definite feeling of nostalgia in it, both from the '80s point of view to the '60s and the current point of view to the '80s. Various elements of late '80s New York get a big slap in the face, especially the yuppie element which is funnier from the perspective of people who dislike yuppies rather than how it is written. With this cast, it's proof that there can be too much of a good thing, although a reference to the things Roberts has missed includes a nod to Lasser's most famous role and is very funny.

Good Film Great Fun.

[tenchgirl · 20 April 2003]

Good film, the fish parts are great, The scenes with the Stools are great especially Mrs. Stool & Jesus, Terminally fun, Jesus goes through life completly stoned, while Fred struggles with coming down and finding the 60's have turned into the 80's and money talks, enviromental disasters are rife, and that not everyone is please to see him. Petra is a walking complex time bomb, wanting to be loved although running away, shes always trying to FIND herself to no avail while Sammy (ex 60's geek) makes some money which turns into more and a spoiled must have wife,hippy son and a am I good enough complex.

Great film which brings back together 4 friends after the 60's with serious, funny, tragic and soul searching consequences.

Watch out for the fish.

Rude Joke On Itself

[jldmp1 · 2/10 · 11 May 2006]

This appeared at a convenient point in time for pop culture self-examination through the movies; the narrative intent is that we can review the 1980s through the lens of 1960s thinking.

It starts off with a 'reprogramming' of a dropout via LSD and movie indoctrination. This could have been something clever...instead it deteriorates by hallucinating through "Up In Smoke" and Leone westerns.

The 'ideal world' is depicted as "Woodstock", with the main characters stolen out of "Easy Rider". They take an excursion through "Salvador" and "The Mosquito Coast".

The whole thing, production-wise, staggers about in a manner as clumsy as "Where the Buffalo Roam" and "Animal House". It resolves through "Deer Hunter", "Stripes" and the Beatles' 'Revolution'.

The point of all this is to tear down the detached, colorless, sexless, 'boozh-wa' 1980s and reindoctrinate the audience to 'the truth' with the 'romantic' drug of the movie. An audience is assembled in the movie to first provoke (in us)the intended feeling of 'guilt', and the second time to sublimate into 'activism'.

As I wrote earlier, it's just not clever. The problem is, it doesn't know how to target the comedic center. Everything ends up as a target, including Roberts because he doesn't know how to play this in a smart way -- there's no winking at the viewer. The producers thought this was 'affirming', oblivious to the joke on themselves.

Clumsy, preachy, boring

[DeadlyWit-2 · 1/10 · 24 May 2002]

The lame gags and jokes fall flat, the actors practically phone in their lines, and the long and frequent preaching about the evils of corporations and conservatives really gets annoying. If you want to be lectured about the ozone hole, AIDS, the burning Cuyahoga River, the homeless, and the virtues of loopy 1960s-style pothead activism, then this is the movie for you. But if you want laugh-out-loud humor, then rent something else.

Horrible

[p1tom · 1/10 · 28 November 2005]

This is the only movie I ever got up and walked out on in a theater. I remember staring at the ceiling because it was more interesting then this horrible so-called movie. Just awful! The is the movie I judge all other bad movies against. The story was terrible. Very boring. The acting was terrible. I was a fan of Cheech and he is why I decided to see this movie. I also recalled that Cindy Williams was in this movie and that is how I found it on IMDb. I couldn't remember the name it was so bad I didn't want to remember I wasted money back in 1989. Obviously not many people have seen this moving since the vote counts are so low. Lucky them!

Kicks the evil 80s in the teeth

[thehumanduvet · 7/10 · 1 March 2000]

Classic tale of two stoners dropping out to have a good time in the jungle for twenty years and then coming back to find the whole world has been taken over by a terrible sickness known as the eighties - yup, they all wear stupid clothes and talk and do a load of rubbish, while the real men from the sixties have all kiinds of trouble fitting in and showing people the value of slobbing around, caning it and having fun without dressing up like Rebecca DeMornay in Weird Science. This film carries a very important message for us all about avoiding eighties style and values, but, like the other guy said, don't watch it in a serious mood, this is a hilarious comedy classic NOT a horror flick, after all.

This is a very funny movie that is worth watching more than once!

[daviddouglas · 10/10 · 23 December 2006]

I cannot understand why this movie is not rated higher. I have seen this movie several times and it gets funnier and better each time. It is unique and if you are a Baby Boomer that attended university during the 70's, it will bring back some beautiful and nostalgic memories of period of youthful innocence and curiosity that so quickly came and then disappeared. It was an age of new thoughts and philosophies that were lost to our Boomer generation during the oncoming greed and corruption that arose in the selfish "Yuppie" 80's. If you have not seen it ... I recommend you watch it with someone who lived through this time period. Further, if you have seen it before and failed to take it in and appreciate its a unique capturing of a special time in our Boomer generation, try it a second time and perhaps you will get it...because it is definitely there and worth a second chance.

"Hey man check it out !"

[merklekranz · 7/10 · 27 August 2015]

"Rude awakening" is a creative "fish out of water" scenario, including a talking, pot smoking fish. Eric Roberts and Cheech Marin escape to a South American utopia, avoiding the Vietnam War, but returning twenty years later to help stop another war. Problem is the "Hippie Movement" has moved on to materialistic endeavors. Thus the stage is set for Roberts and Marin trying to adjust to their friends cop out lives. The supporting cast here is excellent, with Julie Hagerty, Louise Lasser, and especially Buck Henry and Cindy Williams as the "Stools". Disillusioned by the apparent lack of interest for their "save the world" cause, Roberts and Marin refuse to give up, and eventually succeed. The movie is a great nostalgia trip for the right audience. - MERK

I loved this movie...eventually

[gglimmer-1 · 30 December 2006]

Hey, this movie was on HBO in the eighties...thats when I got it on tape. Then the years went by...and eventually I lost my cable connection somewhere around 1998...funny, but I never saw this movie on cable since. I luckily had it on tape and it "grew" on me...I just kept remembering it, and laughing.... I am so glad I had it on tape...cuz I don't think it ever came back...but it is a delight. If you like Cheech and Chong then you know you like "stupid" comedy...yup I like it...I like them....LOL

This movie is a classic in my opinion....there is stuff here under the surface that is important....check it out! The movie lays out some down home ideas of brotherhood and peace that the world needs! (my world needs them!) Love to All! Peace, bro!

Loved It!

[Philaura · 8/10 · 3 September 1999]

Very funny and very sad in the truths questioned. Eric Roberts is a doll. Cheech Marin is hysterical and my favorite, Mrs. Stool. She had me in tears. Why haven't we seen more of this actress? It's a good, fun time that throws out food for thought.

An under-rated, lost gem!!

[htownsteve · 8/10 · 29 December 2013]

This is one of the greatest movies from the 80's, fitting that it is 1989. It signifies the end of two eras in one film. Do NOT let the crappy "4.0" fool you. That rating signifies the 17 people on IMDb who have seen this movie. It's not on Netflix, or at Wal-mart; so no one has seen it. Hell, nobody is going to read THIS for a few years so I'm basically wasting time. FIND this movie, WATCH this movie! Great stuff!

AND....for the two haters that gave the bad reviews? YOU are the ones the movie makes fun of. Get over yourself.

Still doubters? What else, HTownSteve can you tell us? I say to you, Look at the cast.

The protest movement as a backcloth for jokes?

[eabakkum · 7 September 2011]

The hippie theme fascinates me. Although at the time the movement was too bold for me, I keep wondering whether I may have missed something. Thanks to the IMDb I was able to discover the film Rude Awakening, for it is advocated by visitors on the message board of the film Hair. I had already watched Hair and was dissatisfied because of its distortion of the original narrative in the musical. On the other hand I really liked the Swedish film Tillsammans (Together), and appreciated Strawberry Statement. Actually the hippie movement is probably universal, although the motorcycle and camper van aspect (Easy Rider!) appears to be typically American. I guess that the European countries are too small for that. Rude Awakening is presented as a comedy, which of course is just an alternative approach to narrate dramatic events. In the story two New York hippies, Fred and Hesus, have traveled in 1969 to a fictitious Latin American state in order to found a commune in the jungle. They have embraced the soft drug culture, and make a living by growing hemp for the production of hashish. (By the way, in the Netherlands the cultivation of hemp for the production of hash is illegal but the sale of soft drugs isn't). Fred is obviously the leader of the colony, and Hesus has become an addicted zombie, who takes anything that might be hallucinatory. Although the addiction of Hesus looks hilarious, in real life it is fairly commonplace. Therefore his role is perhaps meant to be a warning signal: a history of even moderate hash consumption will lead to severe symptoms at old age. In 1989 a CIA agent is fatally wounded by the local revolutionary army, and in his last moments hands over to Fred a secret dossier about a forthcoming American invasion. Fred decides to alert the American public, and returns to New York, together with Hesus, who follows him more or less like a pet. Fred reanimates his former contact in the hippie movement, notably the former commune members Petra and Sammy. However, Petra and Sammy have done extremely well, and have made careers for themselves. It is understandable, that they are shocked to see their former acquaintances, and loathe the appearance of Hesus. But here the story takes a strange turn, because suddenly Petra and Sammy regress into their abjured hippie attitude. Clearly Rude Awakening is not meant to be a study of characters. In the mean time the FBI starts to hunt Fred in an attempt to recover the secret dossier. Here Hesus plays a heroic and illogical part, when during a gun fight he manages to disarm one of the FBI agents. The quartet decides to occupy the main building on the N.Y. university campus. From its balcony Fred informs the crowd of students about the forthcoming invasion and tries to stir a rebellion. However, the times have changed since 1969, and his speech only serves to increase the already bellicose spirit of the American people. (An old lady sighs: "We have not won something for a long time"). Fred collapses in despair, and loathes his former vegetating life in the jungle. Still he decides to return to the jungle (it remains a mystery why), but just then a group of students appeals to him for guidance in the renewal of the civil movement. This climax is apparently the definite acknowledgment of the avant-garde function of the movement of 68, and its lasting influence on society. Unfortunately Rude Awakening has too many evident weaknesses. The characters lack logic and depth, the dialogs are superficial and childish, and many of the events are absurd. Some instances may provide food for thought and meditation, like the balcony scene, where Fred asks: "How is my hair?" Remember that hair is a symbol of the movement of 68, the name of another hippie film etc. But this is just not enough for a film that pretends to be a reflection on an influential cultural and historical movement. So maybe this protest movement features as nothing more than a backcloth for jokes. Rude Awakening is too lighthearted and senseless for my taste, and I recommend Tillsammans or Strawberry Statement instead.

Super boring!

[RodrigAndrisan · 18 July 2022]

A very good example that it's not enough to have a great actor (in this case, Eric Roberts), to get a very good movie. You also have to have a great story. And, in this case, the story is stupid, banal, boring. We have a handful of some good actors, Julie Hagerty, Robert Carradine, Cindy Williams, Andrea Martin, Buck Henry, Cliff De Young, who worked hard: in vain, the result, a failed film. With such a cast, I thought I would see a particularly good movie: great disappointment! Watching this you'll probably fall asleep and you'll have a dull and boring awaking.