Under The Cherry Moon [1986]

Another Razzie winner, this film is both starring and directed by Prince. In some ways, this makes sense. The movie is heavily based on vibes and there is definitely interest in the visuals. The film is in black-and-white and set in Nice with some distinct Casablanca ambiance in the opening scene. The costumes are all really interesting to look at and, with the exception of a lot of Prince's clothes specifically, surprisingly stylish for the 80s, a notoriously horrifying fashion decade. The sets are very beautiful and meant to evoke old money wealth. The problem is the actual substance of the film. 

The film revolves around Prince's character, Christopher, and his friend Tricky who are basically on a quest to marry rich women to get money out of them in the divorce. They set their sights on a rich girl who just turned 21 and is supposed to get a $50,000,000 trust. Over the course of the film she and Prince supposedly fall in love. I say supposedly because they have no chemistry and spend a lot of the film arguing. In the end, he gets shot for kidnapping her and she funds Tricky's desire to own an apartment complex in Miami while Prince plays music in heaven.

The film is just odd. A lot of plot explanation is dropped in conversation long after we needed it, and the dialogue is hard to follow anyway because the sound mixing is atrocious. The film is scored by Prince and the Revolution, of course, but the balance is so bad we can't hear the actors a lot of the time. And then there's just the plot in general, which is thin and unconvincing. There were some comedic music stings (which maybe weren't supposed to be funny) and some really bad acting moments, but overall it was only okay. Definitely an interesting curiosity, but you don't have to add it to your list unless you really need to hear those 80s jams.

Spoon Rating: 4