Welcome to Pure 80s Cheese, in the best way. Is the acting good? Not really. Are the effects spectacular? Passable, but it does have RoboCop AND Clancy Brown, that guy Mike from Breaking Bad and the weird Science dude from Jurassic Park for some reason playing a cowboy, so that kinda puts it over the top.
Badass Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) is a neurosurgeon, MultiDimensional traveler AND band leader. Is there anything he can’t do? Backed up by his band/mercenary-types in his band the Hong Kong Cavaliers, they have a kick-ass tour bus monitoring everything and a direct line with the President (of the United States, for clarification). And when Buckaroo’s recent inter-dimensional travelings cause an Intergalactic Fuckenings, who’s to fix it? That’s right! Buckaroo Banzai! (and his crew, and random folk on CB radios, and some odd space Rastafarians).
This is just kinda crazy stupid and smart sci-fi shenanigans in full 80s glory. The story is ludicrous, the effects that don’t involve lasers are suspect, and the U.S.S.R. coldwar subplot is downright frightening. But it’s still just a cheezy fun escapade through the time period. John Lithgow and Ellen Barkin are maybe a little too over the top here, but it really doesn’t matter. It’s funny in how serious it takes itself. I suspect drugs may have been involved in the perceptions of what this film could be. And it pulls it off spectacularly!
