Hey Good Lookin’ (1982)
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Hey Good Lookin’ Movie Review
Hey Good Lookin’ is a 1982 animated comedy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It’s another one of his mediocrities unfortunately.
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“If there was one thing we learned
back then that’s still true now,
it’s that if you turn a woman upside down,
they all look alike. So why bother?“
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And yes, I say that sadly as I have always seen great potential in Bakshi, but he simply relied way too much on contemporary, urban settings and vulgar approach to storytelling and that closed box ruined his overall output. This one is no different.
It’s certainly far from his worst movies as it has its moments, but it’s still far from his best films too. It’s just in the middle. Let’s talk about those couple of positives. I did really like the film’s soundtrack as it was quite fun and it followed the action on screen really well. The movie overall had some entertaining scenes here and there, but most were dull.
I also liked that framing device where the beginning and ending are the same. I am always up for that storytelling tool and, sure enough, those two scenes were the best here. Some of the character relationships and interactions are also fine, but they mostly just had good potential and otherwise it was squandered on poor characterization.
Hey Good Lookin’ is again too vulgar and simply crude in its humor and approach to the point of it becoming boring and been there, done that for the director. And I personally have gotten really tired with these urban dramas/comedies where Bakshi just throws in New York and black people, Italians and Jews all together for some drama, but mostly stupidity abounds, and the results are more archaic than anything else, or anything of genuine substance.
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I also found this movie poorly animated. In particular its character designs are quite mediocre and by this point in his career Bakshi really delivered some cheep product. The dialogue’s far from great and the sexual scenes here particularly seem thrown out of purpose or point.
Hey Good Lookin’ has some fine sequences and a solid soundtrack, but it’s another mediocre Ralph Bakshi product with an overly crude approach to storytelling and characterization, and overall it simply seemed overly repetitive for the director in its setting and execution.
