CHERRY 2000. What if “Mad Max” were a mix of SF and rom-com?

Cherry 2000 is the first—and completely forgotten—film by the creator of the excellent Miracle Mile (1988).

The year is 2017. After an unidentified catastrophe, the United States has broken up into separate states; the last remnants of civilization exist only in cities, while lawlessness reigns beyond their borders. An economic crisis has forced humanity to revert to 20th-century technology, but changes have also occurred in social customs: all intimate human relationships now require a legal contract outlining the specific terms of the union. Men unwilling to submit to the strict new laws choose instead the company of female androids designed as lovers. One such man is Sam Treadwell, who lives with a humanoid robot named Cherry 2000. During a spontaneous burst of passion on a wet kitchen floor, a short circuit occurs, damaging the android. Sam must journey to Zone 7 to find another Cherry model, and he is accompanied on this dangerous desert mission outside the city by a guide named Edith Johnson.

Cherry 2000 was the feature debut of Steve De Jarnatt, working from a script by Michael Almereyda. The film was shot in late 1985 in Nevada and California, with a premiere initially planned for the first half of the following year. However, when executives at Orion Pictures saw the finished cut, they had no idea how to market it—or who the target audience might be. “It’s definitely a challenge and a hard film to sell,” said producer Edward R. Pressman, noting that Orion’s biggest concern was the “impure” blend of genres, styles, and themes. The film was supposed to hit American theaters in March 1987, but it wasn’t released until a year later. Cherry 2000 was a severe box office failure: with a budget of $10 million, it earned just $14,000 and quickly disappeared from screens. By the end of 1988—only a few months after its theatrical release—it was already on video store shelves in the U.S.

Orion’s doubts seem justified: De Jarnatt’s film is a strange cocktail of science fiction, romantic comedy, adventure, and action. It’s hard to shake the feeling that the creators borrowed heavily from post-apocalyptic classics—especially Mad Max (1979), The Road Warrior (1981), and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) by George Miller (with help from George Ogilvie on the last one). In fact, Cherry 2000 feels like a mash-up of Max Rockatansky’s adventures with a romantic subplot, where the two leads—Sam (David Andrews) and Edith (Melanie Griffith)—are paired in a classic “opposites attract” dynamic. There are also hints of social satire reminiscent of Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives (and its various adaptations), though these elements are only superficially explored. Then again, De Jarnatt likely never intended Cherry 2000 to be anything more than pure entertainment.

And as entertainment, the film actually works quite well. The script is silly, and the ending predictable, but it’s all offset by humor and a light, fun, carefree atmosphere. Cherry 2000 feels a bit like Steven Lisberger’s later film Slipstream (1989), though with added romantic elements: a similarly unpretentious adventure in a retro-futuristic setting. The desert landscapes of Nevada and California are used effectively, and some scenes—such as a shootout on the roof of a car dangling from a crane—leave an impression thanks to old-school practical effects rather than digital ones. The film’s greatest strength, however, is its humor—witty, ironic, often found in the dialogue but also in situational jokes. This is by no means great cinema, but the film has a certain charm and probably didn’t deserve the flop it turned out to be.