Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)

Hunter S. Thompson Double-Feature

Synopsis: It’s a bit like Up In Smoke without the laughs.

Blurb From the DVD Jacket: “Comic star Bill Murray is at his wildest as America’s leading ‘Gonzo’ journalist, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the legendary underground reporter whose passion for writing was second only to his love of weird chemicals, alcohol, violence and insanity.”

What Did I Learn?: Under no circumstances should you ever allow Hunter S. Thompson to stay in your hotel.

You Might Like This Movie If: You enjoy hearing the song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” getting massacred.

Really?: 1) I have to wonder why Thompson wasn’t removed from the courtroom and charged with contempt immediately after heckling the judge for the first time. 2) So wait – Nixon was running for re-election in 1972, and yet the advance people refer to him as “the Candidate”instead of “the President”? No way…

Rating: I’m a big Bill Murray fan, but I can't say that I enjoyed Where the Buffalo Roam. While Murray and the late Peter Boyle (best remembered as Ray Romano’s dad from Everybody Loves Raymond) do their best with rather loud, juvenile and disjointed material, the biggest problem with this movie is that the characters they portray are obnoxious and completely unlikeable. This wouldn’t be such a problem if the script provided a laugh or two, but it doesn’t. Here’s another What Did I Learn? from Where the Buffalo Roam: it's a lot easier to laugh at people on drugs than it is to laugh with them. I cannot recommend this movie. 5/10 stars.

Would It Work For a Bad Movie Night?: It did, maybe 7 or 8 years ago.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081748/?ref_=sr_1