Wild at Heart

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Wild at Heart

R

1990

2h 5m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

66%

Tomatometer

58 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

After serving prison time for a self-defense killing, Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) reunites with girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). Lula's mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), desperate to keep them apart, hires a hit man to kill Sailor. But he finds a whole new set of troubles when he and Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe), an old buddy who's also out to get Sailor, try to rob a store. When Sailor lands in jail yet again, the young lovers appear further than ever from the shared life they covet.

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Critics Consensus

One of director David Lynch's more uneven efforts, Wild at Heart is held together by his distinctive sensibilities and compelling work from Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern.

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Steve Murray

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sep 23, 2025

Wild, yes. But not much heart.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Sight & Sound

Jan 11, 2020

Perhaps the major problem is that despite Cage and Dern's best efforts, Lynch is ultimately interested only in iconography, not characters at all.

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Scott Tobias

The Dissolve

Apr 27, 2015

4/5

There's a spontaneous, anything-can-happen feeling to it that's the primary appeal of any road movie.

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Ian Thomas Malone

ianthomasmalone.com

Jun 15, 2026

The third act has a lot to say about the power of love to cut through life’s endless noise, a fitting dynamic for a film that’s mostly parlor tricks from a man capable of better.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Mar 16, 2026

5/5

Hailed as self-indulgence at the time, Wild at heart is actually pin-sharp, on-message and an exciting, threatening trip to the wild heart of an American nightmare...

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Noah Berlatsky

Everything is Horrible (Substack)

Jan 23, 2025

Unless your heart is a big old lump of rock, you’ve got to swoon at least a little when Sailor serenades Lula with “Love Me Tender” at the close.

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Andrew

Mar 16, 2025

The muscle car of movies. Tour de force of cinema.

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Robert P

@Superbad 21 hrs ago

Wild At Heart is a *4* star Movie!

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Leon C

@Leocee13 1 day ago

One of David Lynch's iconic movies aside from others. The characters are insane, weird, freaky and archetypal to David Lynch movies. A true inspiration to today's directors. He set the base. As new directors improved on it. He gives you the original story line and then in dream like sequences give you the origin of the characters or story line. Their tragedies or trauma they survived in the past that give you the modern characters. I'd love to see a spinoff of William Defoe's character Bobby Peru, and his surreal origin story. Probably diabolic and wicked. A definite movie classic.

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Jamie G

@jamiegruver 1 day ago

True Lynch. Quirky characters, dark themes, a love story and Wizard of Oz. Also Willem Dafoe. What more could you ask for?

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Stephen C

@dogfood23111 5 days ago

Funny in 02 hours, 05 minutes, and 00 seconds.

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House S

@RT06944493 Oct 22, 2026

One of my favorites and the most entertaining David Lynch film by far. Something about this one keeps me coming back. Not sure if it’s the chemistry between Cage and Dern or just the unapologetic strangeness of this crass crazy ride. This one’s got some moxie.

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David Lynch

Director

Nicolas Cage

Sailor

Laura Dern

Lula

Diane Ladd

Marietta Fortune

Willem Dafoe

Bobby Peru

Isabella Rossellini

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Synopsis

After serving prison time for a self-defense killing, Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) reunites with girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern). Lula's mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), desperate to keep them apart, hires a hit man to kill Sailor. But he finds a whole new set of troubles when he and Bobby Peru (Willem Dafoe), an old buddy who's also out to get Sailor, try to rob a store. When Sailor lands in jail yet again, the young lovers appear further than ever from the shared life they covet.

Director: David Lynch
Producer: Monty Montgomery, Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Steve Golin
Screenwriter: David Lynch
Distributor: Media Home Entertainment, Samuel Goldwyn Company
Production Co: Propaganda Films, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 17, 1990, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Oct 30, 2026
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $14.5M
Runtime: 2h 5m
Sound Mix: Surround

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