A classic Sex
Android movie not to be missed by any Realdoll owner has just been released to
DVD. The movie is the Science Fiction classic “Cherry2000” originally
released by ERP Productions/Orion Pictures on Feb 5th, 1988. 93m.
Rated PG-13.
Sam
Treadwell is a successful executive with the perfect wife – a Cherry 2000 sex
robot. When Sam’s beloved Cherry 2000 sex robot short-circuits during a torrid
embrace amid soapsuds on his
kitchen floor caused by water overflowing the kitchen sink, he must get her
fixed so that their love affair can continue. The Cherry 2000 is outmoded and he
cannot find adequate replacement parts. Heart-broken, his only recourse is a
trip across the desert wasteland to a robot graveyard to find another body to
house his Cherry's memory disc. To make the peril-laden journey past the
wasteland crazies possible, he enlists the aid of a female tracker named E.
Johnson played by Melanie Griffith. But as he and Johnson are forced together on
the journey, a mutual attraction between them grows.
After warning him that Lester, who controls Zone 7, will be after
the disc, E. and Sam head into the desert in a souped-up Mustang. As E.
predicted, it is not long before Lester's gang makes their move. Snared by a
huge crane, E. makes their escape by dropping the car into the Hoover Dam
overflow tunnel. At the bottom of the tunnel they are met Six-fingered Jake,
E.'s uncle, who gives them shelter for the evening. The next day, they return to
retrieve the Mustang and are ambushed by Lester's gang. Sam is taken prisoner
and when Lester demands the disc, Sam realizes he has lost it during the attack.
That night, Sam escapes Lester's camp with the help of E. and Jake. Continuing
their journey, Sam begins to fall in love with E. until he discovers she had
found the memory disc and did not tell him. At a desert gas station run by
Snappy Tom and Randa, Sam finds an old airplane and works to get it operational.
When Jake learns that Snappy Tom has radioed Lester, he attempts to
warn E., but is killed by Randa. With Lester in hot pursuit, E. and Sam take off
and fly to the robot graveyard, in a sand covered Las Vegas. Entering the
Pharaohs Casino, they locate another Cherry 2000 in a storage room and Sam
inserts the memory disc just at Lester's gang attacks. They fight their way back
to the plane only to discover that three people is too much weight for the
little plane to carry. E. leaps out allowing the plane to get airborne and, as
he circles the battle below, Sam realizes he's in love with E. He sets the plane
down, sends Cherry off into the desert, rescues E. and they fly off into the
sunset.
Cherry 2000 spent two years
on the shelves before finally getting released to the theatres. This kind of
delayed release usually signifies major problems, but Cherry 2000 is blissful proof to the contrary. While the title
may sound like softcore porn, the film is actually witty and original. The film
is a humorous satire on the 80s consumer where a sex robot is preferred to the
real thing and a one-night stand requires both parties to sign a contract in
front of a lawyer. The center of the film belongs to Melanie Griffith. She
steals the show with her kewpie doll performance
in russet-dyed hair, khakis and silky, china-doll voice. Hers and Andrews's
relationship becomes a sort of post-holocaust variation on Bogart and
Hepburn’s in The African Queen,
and it makes the film funny and lovable.
The film never quite established the cult reputation it should have,
largely due to a poor release by a distributor that had little faith in it.
This
review marks a special release for me, as my personal favorite film, Cherry 2000
has been issued on DVD. Yes, I love this movie and while I admit it isn't the
greatest film of all time, it is my favorite. From Six-Fingered Jake to Lester
and his goons, I love every minute of this movie and always have fun as I watch
it. The budget seems decent, as some nice action sequences are present and the
location work looks very good also. I know the whole post apocalyptic scene has
been done before, but I love the robot love angle and this one just clicks with
me on all fronts. I like the action, I love the visuals, and in the end, it all
seems to work for me. Cherry2000 might not be the highest profile title out
there, but I am pleased it has been given a proper release on DVD. I've been
looking forward to this release for some time and I am pleased to report, the
wait was worth well worth it. The DVD video quality is a vast improvement over
the original laserdisc and while extras are slim, this disc covers the basics
and as such, is well worth a look. If you're a fan of the genre (Android sex
movies) or just dig on robot chicks like our beloved Realdolls this DVD is
highly recommended. And who knows, perhaps in 20 years our Realdolls will behave
exactly like “Cherry2000”.
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