It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck and Flea go for it on a twisted journey that puts guts and friendship on the line. The trip is set off course by a bunch of screw loose hillbilly's out to grease border jumpers and kill punks. They succeed in at least one of those things on camera within the first thirty minutes. Cathrine Mary Stewert, easily one of Canada's finest exports teaches Cryer how to shoot, and houses the battered collective as they undergo a series of mystical trips on her ranch. Lee Ving plays the bad guy and why he didn't get more work is beyond me as he comes off downright Terrifying in this romp. Penelope Spheeris directed and like most of her work this one is destined for V.H.S obscurity. I wish she could release a box set of her material, not only were her documentary's awesome but her straight productions were stellar as well. Pre-Fugitive Dan Roebuck, super early footage of the funkmaster himself "FLEA" and an always convincing Jon Cryer. Say what you will about the guy but he really fit the "weirdo gangster" role of the eighties better then anyone else. Dust off that vcr and snag a copy of this before it's too late.

I grew up watching mostly stuff from the 90s, but my mom loved this movie. I really like all the stuff this director, especially the Wayne's World movies. This is totally cool and different from those films though. It relates back to when the director was more into punk rock. And how can you lose with a cutie like the young John Cryer in it. He's really cool in this movie. Anyway, for a total piece of 80s new waveyness check this flick out. I wish I had more to say about the whole thing. The soundtrack rules that's for sure. It even had WASP on it, which is pretty wicked. The other awesome stuff is when Flea is in the movie. My 2 cents

I bought this movie for $1.99 at my local video store and while I was expecting it to be better considering that it was directed by Penelope Spheeris, it didn't turn out to be too bad. It certainly is an interesting picture. DUDES starts off comedic and light with three punk rock friends (Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck, and Flea, all good in their roles) heading out to L.A. to find a better life. 20 minutes into the movie, the film becomes more dramatic when they are attacked by a group of rednecks led by the nasty Missoula (Lee Ving). Missoula kills Flea by shooting him in the head and the rest of the movie has Jon Cryer and Daniel Roebuck looking for revenge. It's hard to say exactly what genre DUDES fits under. It's a mix of genres. It's part comedy, part drama, part western, and part action adventure. The mixing of genres is not entirely successful, though it does make DUDES a somewhat fascinating motion picture. It's unlike any other film from the 80s, that's for sure. With some more character development and better dialogue, DUDES could have been pretty good. The ingredients to a good picture are here, but the screenplay is not as strong as it should have been. There's still some stuff to like about DUDES. There are some decent laughs, the music is very 80s yet enjoyable, the action scenes are handled quite well, and the revenge plot, though clichéd, is fairly intriguing. I'd be interested in a DVD release with a making-of documentary since I'm sure it would be just as interesting as the film is. However, that will never happen since it seems nobody has ever heard of this movie. Slightly recommended. 5/10

I understand director Penelope Spheeris' loyalty to the punk culture as she was the director of the Decline of the Western Civilization documentaries as well as one of my favorites, Suburbia. But for crying out loud, this is just a slap in the face. Dudes is about three young punks (Cryer, Roebuck, and Flea) on a road trip from New York to ye old West Coast. Except, after a little mishap, one of their punker friends is violently murdered. So Captain Dumbass (Cyer) "Grant" and his fat pal, Mr. Oblivious (Roebuck) "Buscuit," have some kind of stupid epiphany out in the desert and dress up like cowboy and Indian to avenge their friend's death caused by a mock Hells Angels. There's not even much here about good old fashion good times and die hard freedom punk ethics at work in this story. Save your money, your time, and your brain. Dudes is just one thankless big pile of garbage.