Cherry 2000 (1988)

Directed by Steve De Jarnatt. Starring David Andrews, Melanie Griffith, Tim Thomerson, Ben Johnson, Cameron Milzer, Pamela Gidley, Harry Carey Jr., Michael C. Gwynne, Jennifer Mayo, Brion James. [R]

After his sex robot (Gidley) breaks down, boring businessman Andrews hires Griffith (hysterically miscast as a hardened tracker) to guide him across a lawless wasteland to a distant factory for a replacement, encountering occasional oddballs and crazies along the way. Ultra-derivative sci-fi adventure carelessly cribs from the Mad Max movies, Blade Runner, and others, without giving the audience a character to care about; even if the story made more sense, the parody-level motivation behind the whole endeavor cheapens every effort to take any of it seriously (oh, dear, won’t the sorry schmuck ever realize that the “real deal” is right under his nose?). Villain Thomerson over-exerts himself; mentor Johnson brings a touch of class to little avail. The set design is appropriately shabby but it looks like they just pilfered the dumpsters of every movie studio in town for the senselessly mismatched wardrobe. Filmed in 1985, then shelved several times before barely getting released.

35/100