Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
FirstWitch
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Tymon Sutton
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Stephanie Donald
First of all, consider that this was the only motion picture Andy Kaufman made before he died. He was quite sick when he made it and he never defined himself as a comedian; he always defined himself as a "song and dance man." It was the rest of the world who kept trying to shove him into the comedy can. Andy was perhaps the most misunderstood performer of all time and undoubtedly a genius. At the time this movie was made, Kaufman's break-out TV series, Taxi, had just been cancelled and he had just been diagnosed with a rare large cell carcinoma in his lungs. He wanted to get away from the disastrous "Inter-Gender Wrestling" gig he started that caused his popularity to fall flat and got him banned from Saturday Night Live. Bernadette Peters had just come off playing a cupie-doll airhead against Steve Martin's moron in "The Jerk" and Heartbeeps seemed like a good follow-up role. It's nuances you need to watch for in this film. The unlikely allies of the robots, Val, Aqua and the Catskill Performer, while being pursued by a crazed police robot, makes for a simplistic, yet classic tale of good vs. evil and good wins (spoiler alert!). Much of Kaufman's performance reminds me of the innocent, yet poignant Latka from Taxi. Thank you very much!
johnstonjames
if your first reaction upon seeing 'Heartbeeps' is HUH? you're probably more than justified. even if you don't find this movie appealing in a cutesy-poo, charm sort of way, you'll probably still find it a little off the wall and more than a bit absurd.besides the usual babyish, sentimental group that always gets hooked into popular schmaltz, and i've met many of those, some of us get hooked into this for the pure peculiarity of the story. as any fan of this cult comedy knows, it's about a couple of silly little robots who decide to run away and start a family together. i can't really tell you exactly what the appeal is to this, but for me, it kind of reads like some kind of live action Filmation cartoon from the seventies. it's pretty innocuous and silly stuff. but for some of us the appeal is strong and obviously with most, on a intuitive feeling level.Andy Kaufman's style of comedy was fairly idiosyncratic, personalized and individual to a point of egomaniacal. he was a young man suddenly thrown into the spotlight, like so many young performers, and either he had too many ideas, or knew too little what to do with all the attention, because all fame seemed to do was make Kaufman retreat more inwardly and become, at times, almost incomprehensible. i enjoy Kaufman but i can't always say i get him half the time. he was a very hard celebrity to make a actor out of because his performance skills were so different and hard to place in just anything.i can't imagine a better film for Kaufman than 'Heartbeeps'. the role seems tailored for his eccentricity. not to mention he seems eerily robotic and unreal in his role as Val the house Bot. i also can't imagine a better leading lady for him than the incredible Bernadette Peters. Peters is aways pure gem and she herself is a very individualized talent. without her and Kaufman this film would have been impossible.there's also a couple of funny cameos by 'Rock'n Roll' high school stars Woronov and Bartell. they don't have much to do, but they are hilarious as spoiled rich, yuppie-types who are perplexed by the robots who crash their party.this quaint movie memorabilia reads a little like 'Wizard of Oz', meets artificial intelligence meets Woody Allen's 'Sleeper' or something like that. whatever, it's amusing sci-fi comedy stuff. the only real cliché here though, is to call this little movie a enigma. no kidding. you think. a lot of people will probably find this movie hard to get used to because of it's kookiness. for other's, like myself, the real enigma is why this film is so appealing i just can't resist it. that's the part that kind of perplexes me.
merklekranz
Perhaps, and I mean just perhaps, "Heartbeeps" might hold your attention as a ten minute "Saturday Night Live" skit, but as a feature film it is excruciatingly awful. Quite a number of very interesting character actors are totally wasted, including Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, Dick Miller, and Christopher Guest. Listening to the wise cracking robot "Catskill" tell terminally unfunny jokes makes the worst Jackie Mason movie seem like "Oscar" material. Even as a curiosity piece, "Heartbeeps" is to be avoided. I'm certain there are more than a few members of the cast who would like to bury all memories of this dismal failure. ................... MERK
mark-4401
Little did I know that when I signed up the the "all pay channel" package with Direct TV that I would face a movie like this. It came on right after another movie we had been watching... and I was a teenager in 1981 so am not sure where I was at the time... but I missed this movie.I also can't believe we left it on. It is kind-of funny as it takes you back in the time machine to the early 80s... but I think even then this would have been a painful movie. It was just... well... "too cute"! ET was "cute" in a way... but not obnoxiously cute... and stupid.When I see a movie like this... I come on onto IMDb to see what others say. I am blown away that this thing was nominated! Wow... the movie industry has come a long way since the 80s! Oh well... it did show some old actors... btw that is the other thing I was surprised about... the lineup... not a bunch of no-names... but some real actors/actresses. Must have been in their drug days! Anyways... odd, interesting, bizarre, and makes one happy they grew up!
