Notes From A Walkman Junkie: Read My Vibes, Please

There are a few things in life that I know to be true:  Bunnies throw things,  I have many batteries in my car door, you can dance the Charleston to anything–and most importantly, Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper should be in every movie together.  So I first watched the movie Vibes when I was thirteen years old and found it to be utterly delightful (I also developed a moderate super secret crush on Jeff Goldblum.)

Well, guess what?  I recently caught it again (after searching for quite a stretch to find any possible way to watch the entire movie for free on my laptop–I know it sucks to watch stuff on a small screen, but let’s face it, my television is equally tiny) and it still holds up on the “shit yes” scale in my book–as does my moderate crush on Jeff, but that is no longer a super secret.

This movie has the goods–for one thing, the two main characters are played by Jeff Goldblum  and Cyndi Lauper.  The combination is pure magic and not just because the movie mostly involves psychics and fancy mystical things.   The basic storyline is that two psychics, Nick Deezy (Jeff Golblum) and Sylvia Pickel (Cyndi Lauper) are hired by a shady guy, Harry Buscafusco (Peter Falk-yes!) to come to Ecuador under the ruse of searching for his missing son.

Buscafusco’s true intention is to use Nick and Sylvia’s psychic abilities (Sylvia communicates with a spirit named Louise who doles out various predictions–but also lectures her on the tiny dresses she wears, the height of her hair, guys named Ice pick  and what/how  she should eat.   Nick can read an object’s past by touching it and can do things like  hold a knife and see that someone used it to stab their wife eighty-seven times, touch a fork and discover that the meatloaf was nasty that day or hold a girlfriend’s underpants and learn that she had a bunch of sex with a hockey player)  to find some sort of treasure in the Room Of Gold–you know, the place where all the psychic energy in the world comes from…or some crap like that–It is not important.  What is important is that ALL of the interactions and little quips between Nick and Sylvia (down to their  eyebrow-cocking facial expressions and gangly gestures) are entertaining as hell.

I also love all the little odd and random moments that are peppered throughout the movie.  There is a scene between Goldblum’s character and Julian Sands’ Character, Dr. Steele  (who is posing as the lead doctor in charge of conducting psychic research–but is really in cahoots with the bad guys who are also wanting to get their grubby little hands on some treasure) where they are standing in front of a cab together.

Nick (Jeff) has his hand on the open cab door and is about to climb in when Dr. Steele (Julian) tries to talk him into helping him with a research project.  As they are conversing back and forth Dr. Steele places his hand on top of Nick’s hand and Nick in turn places his other hand on top of  Dr.  Steele’s hand, ultimately resulting in an awkwardly wonderful hand pile of sorts.   This plays out until they run out of hands on the door and move to each others’ shoulders, both men continuing to smoothly and seamlessly place a hand on the others’ shoulder repeatedly until they are locked in a face to face weirdo  shoulder grip–all the while still casually discussing the project.   I don’t think there is a way to describe that bit and do it justice–but trust me, it is a damn enjoyable brief little moment.  Vibes is loaded with wonderful verbal exchanges between characters as well.  I love when Goldblum’s character is faced with being shot while they are up in the mountains of Ecuador.  The evil gun-wielder aims the gun towards Goldblum and offers, “I tell you what, where would you NOT like to be shot?”  To which Goldblum flatly replies, “South America.”

Anyway, I could continue to ramble more, but I shall not do that to you.  I will simply say that Vibes is worth a watch or rewatch–you will smile…or you will be completely miffed at this “Anne” asshole and her stinking recommendations.  I could not dig up any decent clips for you from the movie, but I am attaching the theme song “Hole In My Heart” performed by Cyndi Lauper.

Tags: Cyndi Lauper, Jeff Goldblum, Vibes