Natural Born Killers (1994)

Natural Born Killers spends 119 minutes yelling that TV turns violence into a show, then proves it by becoming one. Oliver Stone throws everything at the screen: color, black and white, cartoons, rear projections, flickering news footage, sometimes all in one minute. For a while it’s dazzling. Then it’s just loud. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play Mickey and Mallory with full commitment, which makes them scary and hard to spend time with. Robert Downey Jr. is the standout as Wayne Gale, a tabloid host with a big Aussie accent and zero shame, and he’s the only part of the satire that stings. Tommy Lee Jones plays the warden at a volume usually reserved for stadium announcers. The media point is sharp, and the movie makes it over and over. It made $50.3 million worldwide on a reported $34M, and it holds a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 5.0 because the idea is smart and the delivery never stops shouting. $41.61 says you flip past a breaking-news chase on TV this month and feel strange about watching anyway.

What works: Robert Downey Jr. is a hoot as the shameless tabloid host, and the wild, mixed-media style is unlike anything else from its decade.

What doesn’t: It makes its point about the media in the first half hour and then repeats it, louder, for the rest of the runtime.

Who it’s for: Grown-up film fans curious about nineties media satire and how far a director can push a visual style.