Tom Hulce’s movies of the 80s seem to range from great to kind of crappy. After his 1978 break through role in Animal House he started the new decade strongly with Those Lips, Those Eyes, won the critics over with Amadeus, followed by disappointing Echo Park, playing the support role in the highly popular Parenthood before wrapping the decade up in Black Rainbow, another slight disappointment.

While Slam Dance never had a chance of becoming a great movie, this story of an artist framed for a murder of a woman could’ve turned out an OK thriller, but it’s either the story by Don Keith Opper that’s too convoluted, or then it’s the director Wayne Wang who fails to translate it to the silver screen in an understandable manner.

Slam Dance is a messy film where nothing is quite real or convincing. Many of the elements here don’t quite seem to mix in well to the idea of Slam Dance trying to be an erotic thriller, and the sub plot of her ex-wife walking in to the scene just the wrong moment again and again gets old before the midpoint of the movie.

80s-o-meter: 85%

Total: 41%