Tapeheads can only wish

Tapeheads (1988) starring John Cusak and Tim Robbins and produced by Monkee member Mike Nesmith and a soundtrack by Fishbone. 
Tapheads  is a movie that has cult written all over. It smacks of something that would bomb like mad at the box office but resurrected for the midnight crowd. 

John and Tim are young friends who become video producers, John being the slick businessman and Tim being the art brain.  They're out in LA, get involved with a sex scandel plagued politician, a gun toting artist roommate, and some industry guy who gets them to make everything on spec.  Throw it all in a blender, add an obscure soul group and a terribly long filler scene involving said obscure soul group near the end, mix it up in a blender, and you have hilarity, apparently.

This is a movie seems like it should be watched many times before an opinion can be formed but I've already watched it twice, will watch it at least once more, and so far I'm not that impressed.  It's neat, sometimes cute, sometimes experimental, definitely an homage to youth, defintely one of John's better acted movies, but it isn't so edgy or artistic that it begs repeat viewings.  It's essentially a silly comedy with some big names attached but nothing more. 

A cult movie, in part, need to be misunderstood because it pushes artistic boundries or cultural taboos.  This movie does neither.  A cult movie doesn't need to be good (think ed wood) but the great ones are also great movies put together by artistic masters.  Ed wood's movies are well known and loved but he's never reached the appeal of Rocky Horror Picture Show or Big Lebowski and that is the same fate Tapeheads has suffered.  It's strange but not strange enough.  It's silly but not dangerous.  It pushes nothing which is why I've never heard about it except from one person which says a lot about the movie.  Dedicated followers but not enough to make it midnight madness.       

It has a good soundtrack, okay acting (mostly), and average directing.  There isn't much to say except John Cusack's best role isn't squat compared to Tim's.  Tim is a better actor.  "Get busy living or get busy dying."