Freaky Deaky

2012 Directed by Charles Matthau

Crime is such a trippy thing

Set in 1974, a pair of '60s radicals rely on their bomb-making skills on their way to becoming capitalists.

Christian Slater Michael Jai White Crispin Glover Billy Burke Breanne Racano Sabina Gadecki Roger Bart Andy Dick Gloria Hendry Page Kennedy Leonard Robinson Bill Duke Mark Saul Carol Herman Charles Matthau Anna Gurji Amy Sutherland

Alternative Title

Freaky Deaky - Das Ende der Zuendschnur

comedy

90 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by DJ_Keyser ★½ 3

Lacks the style and panache that one would hope for, if not expect, from an Elmore Leonard adaptation — Charles Matthau certainly ain’t near the level of Tarantino or Soderbergh. The casting is a big issue, uninspired as it is, and even a kooky Crispin Glover and pony-tailed Christian Slater can’t lift the vibe of the piece. Big straight-to-homevideo energy.
Review by Sofa Sinema ★★½

Clever production design and costuming go a long way to recreating 1974 and that's a good lesson for other low-budget filmmakers who might be intimidated by the task. The story doesn't quite crackle and pop like the coolest Elmore Leonard adaptations, but it's still a breezy afternoon time passer.
My new Remembrance Day tradition is watching something in honor of a fallen veteran of the arts, and there were military honors at Leonard's recent funeral. His work overall had tremendous impact on the style of crime and western fiction. I'll remember him best for those richly comic characterizations of folks up to no good.
Review by sarCCastro ★★ 1

The elements for a great film are all here. Terrific source material(the novel of the same name written by Elmore Leonard) filled with some great characters, a handful of good-to-great actors, and a 70's setting. Unfortunately, it all doesn't come together, or just wasn't put together with enough skill.
The most distressing thing about this movie is the casting of the two main female characters. Robin Abbot is supposed to be a forceful, manipulative character. It's a juicy role, but here it's presented as little more than an ADR voice by an actress that seems either bored or just not very talented at all. The role of Greta Wyatt is a tricker one. It is a basic damsel in distress…
Review by Rivendweller ★★

There were some interesting choices and elements but when combined together it didn't work as well as the filmakers were probably hoping for.
Review by andyloveless ★★★½

VOD. Another Elmore Leonard book that Tarantino owned rights to, back in the 90's -- only to be done by Walter Matthau's son of all people and without Tarantino's involvement. I actually enjoy this one quite a bid. Specially Michael Jai White.
"I've written two historical romance novels -- with a lot of rape and adverbs."
Review by Dustin Baker ★★½

For a while, Elmore Leonard based movies were all the rage and for the most part, I enjoyed just about all of them. It seems lately, that period has been over so it's always interesting when a new project comes out. Unfortunately, this one doesn't shine as bright as the others. The story's fairly typical and it's not told with much flourish here, outside of the garish colors of the 70's set film. The best moments come from the play between Michael Jai White and Crispin Glover and it's here that the humor really works. Billy Burke isn't bad either. The most troublesome thing here for me was trying so hard to emulate the aesthetics of the 1970s crime films,…
Review by Scott Anderson ★½

June Challenge Film #1
The first film of my attempt at the June challenge. Rough start.
An attempt at taking a pretty good but not great Elmore Leonard book into a film, and it is a failure. I read somewhere the budget of this movie was 10 million dollars. What the shit did they spend it on? This was such a lazy adaptation, taking all of the "cool" parts from the book and piecing them together into 100 minutes of shitty storytelling.
On to the next...
Review by bbbgtoby ½ 2

Featured in Elmore Leonard: From the Page to Your Screen
Tedious. Caricatures. Awful costume design. Terrible acting. Dreadful adaptation.
Review by 𝕸ø𝖗𝖐𝖊𝖗ø𝖉 ★

DNF
Not sure why I put myself through an hour of this. It's a funny thing, watching films based on books you like/love, and it's something I often change my opinion on going in; sometimes I think it's fine for the movie to be its own thing because everyone has their own imagination in play when reading the source material, so it's never gonna be the same. Other times I think I want to watch them just to be negative, or best-case scenario, be pleasantly surprised.
This was no different than most cases, and it turned out to be shit. Only one man can get Leonard right in my opinion, and unfortunately he'll probably never do it a second time.
Smooth incidental throwaway Jazz and kinda-period clothing do not an Elmore Leonard vibe make. Stop trying.
Review by FinnHalen ★½

An extremely poor man's Tarantino wannabe. It obviously wants to be stylistic and badass, and the production design reflects that, but everything else is so half-assed that it's almost laughable. The characters are poorly written and not likable at all (the lazy acting doesn't help with that), and the movie's attempt at being trippy and unconventional is just bad... they didn't know what they were doing. Combine these things together and all you really get is just a really boring movie.
Review by Liv ½

May 2017 Scavenger Hunt: 1/30
19. Watch a film with a rhyme in the title.
letterboxd.com/indie_princess/list/may-2017-scavenger-hunt/
Well this was dull. This is a film I've been excited to see ever since I saw the trailer for it in 2012. As I said before, I'm a big Crispin Glover fan, and in 2012 I was following the careers of my favourite actors a lot better than I am now, hence how I came cross this adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel (which I bet is better than this and I really should buy and read it soon.) I thought it was at least going to be a cheesy mess that I could enjoy, but instead it was just boring. I could…
Review by 🐱🐶planetrahbin🍣🍫 ★★★★

I love Elmore Leonard! This adaptation is pretty damn good! Loved the performances- especially Crispin 's.

Recent reviews

Review by Daisyxjay ★★★★½

Anything withCrispin Glover is an A+ in book!
Review by Maddie ★★

way too much going on and not good enough to carry the plot
Review by Deborah ★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Entertaining enough.
Gotta say, I chuckled satisfactorily when A*dy D*ck died early on in the movie
Review by 𝕸ø𝖗𝖐𝖊𝖗ø𝖉 ★

DNF
Not sure why I put myself through an hour of this. It's a funny thing, watching films based on books you like/love, and it's something I often change my opinion on going in; sometimes I think it's fine for the movie to be its own thing because everyone has their own imagination in play when reading the source material, so it's never gonna be the same. Other times I think I want to watch them just to be negative, or best-case scenario, be pleasantly surprised.
This was no different than most cases, and it turned out to be shit. Only one man can get Leonard right in my opinion, and unfortunately he'll probably never do it a second time.
Smooth incidental throwaway Jazz and kinda-period clothing do not an Elmore Leonard vibe make. Stop trying.
Review by Rivendweller ★★

There were some interesting choices and elements but when combined together it didn't work as well as the filmakers were probably hoping for.
Review by madison ★★

christian slater has a ponytail.
Review by jsshelton24 ★

This is totally B movie fare. Lacks the magic and cracking wit of the Leonard novel. Fails miserably at trying to be a period piece.
Review by Mike Mariano ★★

The film assumes that the 70s and explosions are inherently hilarious and that’s just not true.
Michael Jai White is the only actor rising above the material and the direction (though I did enjoy Racano speaking only in ASMR)—his is the only character who actively doesn’t want to blow up and his physicality sells it. I know White deserves superhero status but I would love to watch him in a musical comedy.
Review by DJ_Keyser ★½ 3

Lacks the style and panache that one would hope for, if not expect, from an Elmore Leonard adaptation — Charles Matthau certainly ain’t near the level of Tarantino or Soderbergh. The casting is a big issue, uninspired as it is, and even a kooky Crispin Glover and pony-tailed Christian Slater can’t lift the vibe of the piece. Big straight-to-homevideo energy.
Review by andyloveless ★★★½

VOD. Another Elmore Leonard book that Tarantino owned rights to, back in the 90's -- only to be done by Walter Matthau's son of all people and without Tarantino's involvement. I actually enjoy this one quite a bid. Specially Michael Jai White.
"I've written two historical romance novels -- with a lot of rape and adverbs."
Review by Sean P. Mulhall ★½

Part of my cross-platform quarantine project, Pulp Fiction: A Deep Dive into Elmore Leonard Adaptations
Though it is one of the silliest names books, Freaky Deaky is one of my favorites, for sentimental reasons. It is the first Elmore Leonard book I ever “read.” I put that word in quotes because I actually listened to it on tape. It was during middle school, probably seventh grade, and I had a book report due on Monday. It was Friday and I had not chosen a book to report on.
My mom has been a Leonard fan for a long time and thought I might like his style, so she handed me a paperback copy of Freaky Deaky. I read the first couple…
Review by maureen ★★★½

I gonna tell my kids that was a sequel to Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood.