Under the Hula Moon
Under the Hula Moon
R | 01 December 1995 (USA)
Under the Hula Moon Trailers

In the desert outside Cactus Gulch, Arizona, Buzzard and Betty Jean Wall live in a trailer decorated in Hawaiian themes. Betty's trying to get pregnant. Buzz wants to market "Cammo," a sun block lotion that looks like camouflage; but financing is tough to find and Betty thinks he should get a real job. Buzz's half-brother Turkey, a murderous psychopath, escapes from jail, comes to the trailer, ties up Buzz, kidnaps Betty, steals $10,000 they've just won from Publisher's Clearing Hut's Lucky Loser drawing, and heads for Mexico. Buzz is untied by Maya, an ex-girlfriend who's now a TV reporter in search of a story. They pick up Turk's trail and set out to rescue Betty.

Reviews
merklekranz

"Under the Hula Moon" is a very uneasy mixture of violence and dark comedy. Though not totally successful, this edgy combination will no doubt satisfy those with "cult movie" interests. Chris Penn (as Turk ) provides the unpredictable explosive violence, while Stephen Baldwin (as Buzz) and Emily Lloyd provide lighter moments in their "Hawaiianized desert house trailer". The movie contains some very sharp dialog that is absolutely priceless. Turk "You can't turn a pussy into a wildcat". Buzz " Maybe not but where you're going (prison) they can turn an asshole into a pussy". This is a low budget gem just waiting to be discovered by the right audience. - MERK

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sexytail

The beginning of the 90s brought many "quirky" and "off-beat" independent films, a particular sub-genre of which is the semi-spiritual desert crime movie. Others of note are "Wild at Heart", "From Dusk Til Dawn", and to a certain extent "Natural Born Killers". Good films like those spawned junk like "Highway 666", "Destiny Turns on the Radio" and this ineptly surreal anti-masterpiece "Under The Hula Moon". It's a comedy that aims for a certain emotional tone, attains it, but keeps going to the point of irritation. While the pursuit across the spirit-world of the desert and the casting of Chris Penn are good ideas, the film is not dirty enough or hard enough to be a good crime movie, and isn't focused enough on laughs to really be a comedy. I won't blow the ending, but let's just say it's bad. The film is basically a bad side effect of genre-cancer. This is the dregs of indie-mania.

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rusty-57

Stephen Baldwin is so funny in this colorful comedy. Looks cool and the music was camp. See it.

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mike-250

Along with 2 days in the Valley, I think this is one of worst movies I've ever seen. Just another of the long line of Tarantino rip-offs that have emerged since Pulp Fiction. The atmosphere the movie creates is amusing for the first five minutes, but then the film makers make the unforgivable mistake of allowing unnecessary and grotesque violence to up the "hip" quotient. You're better off skipping this one.

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