CIRCUITRY MAN (director/writer: Steven Lovy; screenwriter: Robert Lovy; cinematographer: Jamie Thompson; editors: Gregory Neri/Jonas Thaler; music: Deborah Holland; cast: Jim Metzler (Danner), Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (Lori),Lu Leonard (Juice), Vernon Wells (Plughead), Dennis Christopher (Leech), Barbara Alyn Woods (Yoyo), Manu Topou (Maki), Garry Goodrow (Jugs), Paul Willson (Beany), Andy Goldberg (Squald) ; Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Steven Reich/John Schouweiler; Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (RCA); 1990)
“Nothing about the thriller is convincing, but is well-made and quite amusing.“
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Steven Lovy(“Mix”/”Plughead Rewired: Circuitry Man II“) unenthusiastically directs and co-writes with brother Robert this dreary but at times funny post-apocalyptic sci-fi tale set in the near future, some 40 years after the oceans dried up and the Earth is no longer livable. It’s no more than your standard ‘end of the world’ thriller, another Blade Runner rip-off wannabe.
Ex-bodyguard turned fashion designer Lori (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), dwelling in subterranean Los Angeles, is forced by her former boss, the ugly female thug Juice (Lu Leonard), a dealer in the black market, to deliver some valuable stolen pleasure-inducing computer chips to her partner, a nutcase bald cyber-freak named Plughead (Vernon Wells). In a stunning development, Plughead kills Juice. Thereby Lori flees with the chips in a suitcase, and decides to carry out the original job. Lori is chased by Plughead and the cops who want her for Juice’s murder. She arrives in New York, after driving there in her 1964 Galaxy through a chain of secret tunnels, to keep a date with the handsome, pony-tailed, suicidal android Danner (Jim Metzler). The android has been programmed by Juice to search for non-existent true love, and finds it with Lori.
Nothing about the thriller is convincing, but it is well-made and quite amusing. The songs by Deborah Holland are another reason for seeing the film. If you can handle all the cliches and the incoherent plot line, you should be rewarded with a film worth seeing
REVIEWED ON 4/1/2015 GRADE: B-
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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