Tapeheads (1988)

just watch it!

Awesome Movie

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

After losing their jobs as security guards, best friends Ivan (John Cusack) and Josh (Tim Robbins) start a music video production company called "Video Aces".This is very much a 1980s movie, which captures that 1980s music video culture perfectly. For me, I missed most of that and really got into music around 1992-1994, still a great time for MTV and music videos. So I get the general idea, though the 80s were by far a crazier decade.This is also a great entry in John Cusack's career. He could not have made this much later than the mid-80s teen movies he was working on, and yet seems like such an adult here. A fun-loving, Fishbone-liking adult. But still an adult. Was there ever a time when Cusack was not at the top of his game?

My bestest memory of this film, that I love dearly, is (to me) a great story (bear with me). I live in a suburb of Chicago. This film was playing at the late, lamented Oakbrook Theatre. I saw it on the night that the Chicago Bears were playing the season opening game on Monday Night Football, the first game after the won the Super Bowl a couple months back. The Chicago area was very (to say the very least...) of their home team... ...and I don't like sportsConsequently, I was the only person in the theatre. And as I mentioned, I loved the film. I felt very elitist as I left the show, feeling that I had done a better job of spending 90 minutes than everyone else That I knew. Of course, when I tried recommending the film to anyone else, it was meant with indifference.This film, besides being really good, will always be in my book of cool for this reason (my "private screening" if you will...) if nothing else. Should I ever be lucky enough to meet Mr. Cusack, or Mr. Robbins, I would be proud to personally thank them for this experience.

...oh, yeah, most people are braying morons who wouldn't know a whip tight 80's comedy if it came out on DVD 15 years later with jokes that could still bite a chunk out of Adam Sandler's/Ben Stiller's/even Will Ferrell's ass. I saw this in the theater when it came out and couldn't fathom how the rest of the country wasn't chanting "Let's get into trouble, baby!" Then I remembered the country's median IQ and dismal reading levels and it was clear that this flick just moved too quickly for cinema dwellers who were looking for something a little less challenging than "Mannequin". "Teach me to read." "Sign my butt." "Don't bulls--- me! I'm a big cello fan! Casales died years ago!" "Josh is a visual visionary he communicates in images not antiquated verbosity, maybe that's why he's been so hard to understand recently." RENT-A-FACADE. "The Blender Children are mulch!" "Waffles' just pancakes with little squares on 'em." Not to mention the fact that the whole shebang is a slap in the face to Mtv produced by the creator of the network, Mike Nesmith. If that ain't subversive enough for you then go rank "Mannequin 2: On the Move" a ten and leave the real comedy to those that get it.

The chemistry between Cusack and Robbins is readily apparent in this off-beat comedy. The film is full of clever, yet not-so-obvious sight-gags including the casting of Zander Schloss as both a heavy-metal fan and an R&B concert-goer.Sam Moore and Junior Walker pair up as the fictitious band "The Swanky Modes" adding a number of very soulful tunes to the soundtrack. To quote Josh & Ivan in the movie "We love the Swanky Modes."