The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Wrapped deep within Buckaroo Banzai’s nutty plot—about a genius scientist-slash-rock star and his equally eccentric pals working to prevent a long-brewing interstellar and inter-dimensional war—is a love story. Jamming onstage with his Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo (Peter Weller) notices Penny (Ellen Barkin) sobbing in the audience and stops the show to talk to her. After she’s arrested for—oops!—firing a gun in the club, he goes the jail and realizes his déjà vu was onto something, because she’s the long-lost identical twin sister of his late wife. Hey, stranger things have happened!
Before long, she’s entangled in the main adventure, and though she has a pretty small role in a movie where a lot is going on at all times, the two characters share a tender and meaningful moment at the end when a little alien interference zaps her back into Buckaroo’s life. If only they’d made the promised sequel Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, we would’ve seen their relationship grow even more, and no doubt Penny would’ve had a chance to kick some real ass. (Fubo, Paramount+, MGM+, Sling)
