REPO MAN

Repo Man has to be one of the craziest movies ever made.

Repo Man has to be one of the craziest movies ever made. It is in fact so crazy and so funny that it could easily become a sort of religion. You could visit the church of the Repo Man every week and still not figure out what it's all about. Luckily the Collector's Edition DVD comes with feature commentary, missing scenes, and interviews to aid you in your quest for meaning.

A still-hot and dead-funny Emilio Estevez stars as Otto Maddox. He's a rebellious teenager who loses his job at a grocery store after scuffling with a guy who looks like a cross between Napoleon Dynamite and the twins from The Proclaimers. Otto turns to his parents for money, but it's no use. They're zonked out in front of the TV, and they've given all their savings to a televangelist. This leaves Otto no choice but to become a repo man, a profession he's scammed into by Bud (Harry Dean Stanton). Otto's not too excited about the job, but after a few car chases and shootouts, he decides it's a respectably action-packed line of work.

The plot thickens when Otto meets Leila (Olivia Barash). She tells him all about her search for a bunch of dead aliens that can be found in the back of a Chevy Malibu. Before he knows it, he too is on the lookout for this mysterious car. You will probably remember Olivia as Albert's girlfriend on Little House on the Prairie because her father was such a big pervert and the episode most likely scarred you for life. It's a relief to see her cute self away from the prairie, and working at the United Fruitcake Outlet.

The Malibu in question has been swerving all over the highways with the wrong blinker on since the beginning of the movie. It's driven by a crazy looking man who wears sunglasses with only one lens, and something is horribly wrong with his trunk... like people tend to vaporize when they look in it. Such is the sad fate of one of Otto's criminally minded friends. Perhaps the funniest moment in the entire movie is when the two remaining punks look at each other in absolute bewilderment, and slowly edge away from the car. "Let's go do those crimes," suggests one. "Yeah. Let's go get some sushi and not pay," replies the other. This is one hilariously weird movie.

Adding to the film's appeal is the always intriguing Harry Dean Stanton. I've had a soft spot for him ever since he played Molly Ringwald's dad in Pretty in Pink. He's hardened yet vulnerable, sweet yet capable of kicking your ass. In the "Up Close With Harry Dean Stanton" interview, he leans heavily toward ass-kicking mode, and explains his philosophy of life in a strangely combative manner. He believes that all of life is predestined, but we can't ever really know or change what's going to happen. It is but a dream, or movie that's already been written. For some reason, the interviewer chooses to challenge him, and that's when things get uncomfortable. Harry looks like he's going to punch the guy, tell him he hates him, or possibly announce his candidacy for Mayor of Crazy Town. It is one of the most awkward interviews I have ever seen, and it culminates in Harry singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and playing guitar. Gosh, and I thought things couldn't get any weirder.

As the film winds toward its conclusion, the parallel stories intertwine, and come together for an appropriately bizarre finale. Whether you call it a surreal comedy or a sci-fi thriller, Repo Man is an undeniably fun ride, and the extra features only make it better. This cult classic is likely to leave audiences simultaneously scratching their heads and laughing for generations to come.