7. Something Wild (1986)
There can be such a thing as a jarring genre switch that actually works, even though - at first - you might not appreciate how it changes the first half of a movie you were enjoying so much. Case in point: Jonathan Demme's
Something Wild, which tells the story of a boring banker, played by Jeff Daniels, who gets caught up in a wild fling with a wild child played by Melanie Griffith. The two embark on a crazy fling, purposely evoking the tone and spirit of the classic screwball comedies. And look at the poster for this movie: it's says "wacky," right? I mean, Jeff Daniels is upside down. What's wackier than being upside down? And yet, after all the funny stuff, some great set-pieces and a rockin' soundtrack, Demme drops a poisonous element into the mix: Ray Liotta. As Griffith's ex-boyfriend, he's a complete and utter psycho, and guess what? He wants her back. Liotta's sudden presence pulls the movie into new, dark territory - territory that feels completely at odds with what came before. One could certainly argue that
Something Wild would've worked better as a happy-go-lucky comedy entirety, but to that I say: "Why don't you spend a bit of time being upside down?"