Wild at Heart

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Wild at Heart

R

1990

2h 5m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

66%

Tomatometer

59 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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Kathleen

18 hrs ago

Wild at Heart is criminally underrated and it's one of my favorite David Lynch films. It's a love story, it's a road trip adventure, it's a beautiful union of The Wizard of Oz and Elvis Presley, and it has a phenomenal cast. This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top!

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Mr Hollywood

2 days ago

It’s a standard story told in a unique way. There’s a lot of fun to be had. Not Lynch’s best but there’s enough great moments that remind you of the genius things he ends up doing in his later movies.

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Trey

3 days ago

Incredible, beautiful movie. I will see any David Lynch movie in theaters any time that it’s available.

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Kabir

3 days ago

Probably the only movie by Lynch anyone will understand from start to finish. These lovers are having the time of their lives. They are truly wild at heart.

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Andrew

Mar 16, 2025

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

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Layton T

@Layreviews 21 hrs ago

Absolutely no one does it like Lynch

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David Lynch

Director

Nicolas Cage

Sailor

Laura Dern

Lula

Diane Ladd

Marietta Fortune

Willem Dafoe

Bobby Peru

Isabella Rossellini

Perdita

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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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