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Rude Awakening (1989)

Director: Aaron Russo, David Greenwalt

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From Time Out Film Guide

After 20 years 'out to grass' in Central America, draft-dodgers Jesus (Marin) and Fred (Roberts) wake up to modern political reality when they find the body of a CIA agent whose suitcase contains secret plans for a full-scale American invasion of Managuador. Realising that when they dropped out they also copped out, they instantly resume radical politics and return to New York to spill the beans. To their horror, their far-out pals now pursue respectable careers while enjoying the consumerist benefits of post-Reagan capitalism. A string of unrelated skits masquerading as a plot, this is a feeble one-joke movie: idealistic hippies culture-shocked by yuppie lifestyles, nuclear power, the ozone layer, acid rain and, most heinous of all, the colorisation of black-and-white movies. Only Louise Lasser, as the vivacious owner of the Nouveau Woodstock vegetarian restaurant, gives any hint of what might have been achieved with a little imagination.

Author: NF

Time Out Film Guide


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