Too many fans seem to be blown away

Perfect cast and a good story

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

After losing their jobs as security guards, best friends Ivan (John Cusack) and Josh (Tim Robbins) start a music video production company called "Video Aces".This is very much a 1980s movie, which captures that 1980s music video culture perfectly. For me, I missed most of that and really got into music around 1992-1994, still a great time for MTV and music videos. So I get the general idea, though the 80s were by far a crazier decade.This is also a great entry in John Cusack's career. He could not have made this much later than the mid-80s teen movies he was working on, and yet seems like such an adult here. A fun-loving, Fishbone-liking adult. But still an adult. Was there ever a time when Cusack was not at the top of his game?

Tapeheads is a surprisingly perfect satire of the eighties made at the end of the eighties. It is very funny, with an intelligent script and great dialog. Fine comedic performances by Cusack and Robbins. Multiple intertwined plots. There is a love story between a female artist and Robbins' nerdy video artist. A self-help guide with Cusack trying to better himself and his buddy. A music marathon with wonderful performances. A corrupt politician caught in a delicious scandal. All this combined with an hysterical dysfunctional family drama, make for a thoroughly wacky and wild time. The soundtrack is fabulous too. In particular, Roscoe's Rap manages to send up MTV, KFC, TV advertising and Rap music. Loved it!

I remember when this film first came out. It played the local "indie" theatre for about a week. According to a "Details" magazine article on Cusack, he said that when they were promoting the film, did so in their "Actor's Gang" personas, wearing skinny ties and trench coats, and they got kicked off of a morning talk show for trashing the green room.Judging by the final product, it seems that Robbins and Cusack wanted to have some fun, and brought this film to Michael Nesmith's Pacific Arts Company (not known for its high production values), and banged it out between schedules.It's always a treat to see John Cusack and Tim Robbins acting in the same film. I believe "Tapeheads" is the first one where they co-headline, and it is great!As a cult film, it has all of the factors that make it worthwhile (subtle sight gags, quotable lines, a stream of cameos, random tangent scenes (the Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle commercial), and satirical jabs (in this case the music video industry.)Minor spoilers ahead:My one complaint is that the ending could have been a little sharper. The final chase and apprehension of the politician's videotape should have been more suspensful, and I didn't buy the Swanky Modes' concert performance. Do you think a concert hall full of people waiting to see Menudo would be won over by one song by two aging R&B stars? Who knows. Maybe this was a subtle jab at Michael Nesmith's former band, who inexplicably gained a new following in the mid-'80s when MTV started airing episodes of "The Monkees" 3 times a day.

Spoilers herein.Films like this take a chance of being just too dumb and silly. This one works for me, but it likely will not for you.The thing that makes it work for me is to constantly be aware of the context. A producer is a Monkee. A writer the guy who did `Charlie's Angels.' The sex interest Bing Crosby's daughter! Cusak and Robbins just plain acting as goofy as they can.Ordinarily, this excess just turns me off as in say `me Myself and Irene' or `Reservoir Dogs.' But this a goofy film about two guys who do what? Make goofy films. And the values they have in the film are the values of the film. I love this stuff.