im sure if memory serves me right the melody maker in the uk claimed it a film "of rare wit and humour"

enjoy enjoy this.....
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
Thursday, July 3, 1986
Section: FEATURES
Page: 47

MOVIES

A BATTY PRINCE ON THE RIVIERA

By JOE BALTAKE
Daily News Film Critic

The difference between the superstar's first two films is that "Purple Rain" is a psychological/autobiographical glorified rock video starring Prince and the Revolution, while his new one, "Under the Cherry Moon," is a movie starring Prince, period.

Actually, it's several movies - part Antonioni, part Howard Hawks, part Andy Warhol, part whatzit - all jumbled together and seemingly based on the mental landscape of its kinetic, eccentric, self-consciously lascivious star. I've seen "Under the Cherry Moon," I enjoyed it enormously, but I haven't quite figured out what it's supposed to be. Still, I like it.

This overall murkiness, which probably will be exaggerated by the detractors of "Purple Rain," is what gives the film its vulnerable charm, along with the film's moody tug-of-war with itself: Prince's distinctly modernist presence never seems to be quite welcome by his own film's nostalgic Art Deco elements. This unease gives the movie a timelessness, a feeling of being out-of-place with itself, that's hugely affecting.

It took some time for me to catch on, settle back and enjoy it. "Under the Cherry Moon" gets off to a rather creepy start with just about everyone behaving as if he is a vampire in one of those once-trendy Warhol/Paul Morrissey horror collaborations. When bats appear in one scene - in a cabaret, no less - the joke is made clear: This is Prince's portrait of the expatriate as a young zombie. After the bats appear, liberating everyone, the film itself perks up.

It could have been titled "Two Gals in Paris," only in this case, we get two guys - Prince and sidekick Jerome Benton - and they're in Nice, on the Cote d'Azur, not in Paris. The boys, gigolos hoping to sponge off the jet set and get rich themselves, are simply male variations of the characters that Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell played in Hawks' "Gentleman Prefer Blondes."

Prince is Christopher Tracy, a boy who entertains nightly in a piano bar and dares to fall in love with a swell (Kristin Scott-Thomas), much to her parents' chagrin, and he plays the part with a mixture of his usual wild-eyed randiness and a certain '40ish insouciance.

The film's dramatic structure - its simple narrative and simple psychology and sociology - is merely a matter of the girl's parents trying to keep this dapper punk away from their daughter and the kids searching for a place to be alone.

There's no question in my mind that Prince is playing Marilyn Monroe here (at times, he has the same sweet, startled, slightly addled innocence) or that the speedboat escape at the end looks like the final scene from "Some Like it Hot."

I've mentioned a lot of films and filmmakers here and, no, Prince the director is not able to make all of them hold together. But at least, "Under the Cherry Moon" isn't a trendy retread.

Word leaked out a few weeks ago that "Under the Cherry Moon" was something of a stinker. Horsefeathers! It's unique, by far the boldest film of the summer.

Parental guide: Rated PG-13 for its language.

Why are you so stuck on reviews of this old movie?
[Edited 3/13/08 3:46am]

I liked it when it came out and I STILL like it - quirky little film that it is....

xZ

I went to see it at the cinema 6 times.....

I like the movie.

Till this day I can't watch the ending when he dies. I don't like that part.

Dayclear said:

PRINCE org??

PRINCE movie??

PRINCE review??

am i making sense?

I like the movie...it just reminds me that I haven't been to France...and I'm not crazy about that mood.

There was also a VERY positive review on salon.com a while ago.

I quite like UTCM.

I thought the movie, itself, was terrible. But that didn't stop me from over him!

I have to agree with Genesia, the movie itself and Prince's acting skills were ridiculous.I would have never watched it a second time, if Prince wasn't in it.
But Prince is so adorable and sexy in that movie that he makes up for the lame story and the horrible acting.

And I still want to wear every piece of wardrobe from that film. I'd wear Mrs. Wellington's gown...and Prince's jammies...and Mary's sheet...and Katie's polka dots...

What I remember from UTCM: I was 16 turning 17 years old.

I saw it in Philly at the Regency 1&2, 16th and Chestnut with my Mom on the Saturday of opening weekend. It was mid-afternoon and there were maybe 10 people in the movie. We walked in halfway through ( back then you could sit thru multiple showings-no one really cared or checked). We came in during "Kiss".

I remember this couple in front of us trying their best not to laugh at the movie. But it was funny. I think the problem was audiences did not know how to react to the film, was it suppose to be serious, a parody, a comedy, all of the above. The my Mom said out loud about Kristen Scott Thomas about how ugly she was and the couple in front of us fell out in hysterics.

Then we watched UTCM from the beginning with a different set of 10-12 people.
We had the added bonus of having a drunk/wino that sat at the back of the movie and gave everyone his moment-by-momet critique of the film. Obiviously no one could take the film seriously after that.

Prince play piano with the lacey/doley head scarf thing and trying to give the girl "the eyes", the drunk yells "look at the Faggot." It went on thru the movie.

I was disappointed the band did not get even a cameo. The film had beautiful cinematography and Prince was in great shape, totally fierce wardrobe.

Excellent music.

I used to think it should have been and Morris Day and Jerome story, maybe thata would have been better received, but Prince has to be the star, so it was what it was.

And yes I have the DVD. It is ashame none of the Prince Series of films has his commentary on the films. It would be so interesting to hear his opinion why what was done then.

Oh well maybe some day.

I remember being kinda embarrassed when I left the theater after seeing it for the first time...our local theater usually posted a couple words of review on the marquee for each movie....for UTCM they had "simply awful"..
alot of non-Prince fans like Purple Rain...not so much with UTCM...and I'm pretty sure that not one single non-fan even bothered with Graffiti Bridge...

I loved the movie but hated the soundtrack.