Ok, it opens as a quirky, kinky modern screwball comedy with a sexy lead who is supposed to be engaging as she drinks and drives - and rips off small businesses.
And then we have the aspiring young business exec who naturally can't resist the leggy yet dangerously neurotic female who keeps putting him in tight binds.
So despite not personally liking the amorality of Lulu in the opening, Demme's film begins to gel into a workable cult fable as slightly larcenous working-stiff falls for mad woman - only to have now dear-departed Ray Liotta show up.
Of course the film's main hook - wonderfully supported by Ray's presence - is the lighting switch from Indie-music-driven crime-spree romp to life and death thriller.
And while the story is totally hokum, it largely worked for me - until the very ending.
Given the very dark turn of the movie - and how it must have shattered Jeff Daniel's life - I winced when the film Hollywooded back to happy-ending land with Jeff unbelievability quitting his job - to do what, exactly?
By the end everything was overwhelmingly nothing but safe movie tropes - it would have been so much more interesting had Lulu simply disappeared - leaving Jeff to ponder his life now.
Also - the scene with the polite mother who wasn't fooled at all was very interesting - and a bit more of that level-headed maturity would have made a much deeper ending.
Liked the soundtrack, though.
And then we have the aspiring young business exec who naturally can't resist the leggy yet dangerously neurotic female who keeps putting him in tight binds.
So despite not personally liking the amorality of Lulu in the opening, Demme's film begins to gel into a workable cult fable as slightly larcenous working-stiff falls for mad woman - only to have now dear-departed Ray Liotta show up.
Of course the film's main hook - wonderfully supported by Ray's presence - is the lighting switch from Indie-music-driven crime-spree romp to life and death thriller.
And while the story is totally hokum, it largely worked for me - until the very ending.
Given the very dark turn of the movie - and how it must have shattered Jeff Daniel's life - I winced when the film Hollywooded back to happy-ending land with Jeff unbelievability quitting his job - to do what, exactly?
By the end everything was overwhelmingly nothing but safe movie tropes - it would have been so much more interesting had Lulu simply disappeared - leaving Jeff to ponder his life now.
Also - the scene with the polite mother who wasn't fooled at all was very interesting - and a bit more of that level-headed maturity would have made a much deeper ending.
Liked the soundtrack, though.