One area that Tapeheads absolutely excels is in the music department.
1988’s Tapeheads stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins, who — at the time — were both primarily known for teen comedies like One Crazy Summer, The Sure Thing, and Fraternity Vacation. It features a litany of cameos from an unlikely combination of personalities like Michael Nesmith, Stiv Bators, Ted Nugent, “Weird” Al Yankovic, and Jello Biafra. The supporting cast includes movie and music legends like Clu Gulager, Doug McClure, Don Cornelius, Sam Moore, and Junior Walker. You’d think that whoever assembled such a truly unique selection of talent would have also created a worthwhile final product. Sadly, Tapeheads is more disappointing than must-see viewing.
The movie tells the story of Josh (Robbins) and Ivan (Cusack), two childhood friends that end up getting fired from their security guard jobs for throwing a party on the premises. Josh has an untapped talent for movie-making and Ivan encourages him to use his gift to make music videos. The duo move to a studio apartment shared with an artist named Belinda (Katy Boyer.) They begin trying to attract prospective clients in any way possible. Ivan handles the business end and Josh does the work. They call themselves Video Aces.
After a few missteps and a strange set of circumstances, Video Aces find themselves thrust into stardom. And, as a result of a run-in with a Presidential candidate named Norman Mart (Gulager) and an investigative reporter (Mary Crosby), they also have a hit squad after them.
Tapeheads‘ script and direction are intentionally weird. The film aggressively tries to court an audience attracted to midnight cult film showings. Unfortunately, the zaniness is forced and, as a result, the “big” comedic moments (a botched heavy metal band video shoot, for example) fall flat. What does work, though, are smaller, more inspired moments, like a malfunctioning elevator at Mo Fuzz Records or Josh’s film that introduces us to the friendship between he and Ivan.
One area that Tapeheads absolutely excels is in the music department. The soundtrack, which features songs by Fishbone, Devo, They Might Be Giants, Bo Diddley, Sam Moore and Junior Walker (as The Swanky Modes), is head and shoulders above the film it supports.
Tapeheads successfully depicts the days when MTV was a strong influence on the music business and video artistry but, as a comedy, it only elicits a few minor chuckles. Tapeheads is a time capsule of the music video era more than anything else.
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
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