Untamed Heart

I first heard of Untamed Heart way back in 1994 when the MTV Movie Awards were announced for that year. It was the first time I was exposed to a concept such as the MTV Movie Awards thanks to Cable TV coming in only a couple of years before that. And the category in which Untamed Heart featured and eventually won was “Best Kiss”. Now, I was no movie expert then (not that I claim to be one now) but I had just turned 19 around this time and rushes that were shown on screen definitely got my hormones onto overdrive and I thought this was the bestest movie ever made.


Adam (Christian Slater) is found one morning outside an orphanage in a basket (like most abandoned babies are found) but he has a huge scar on his chest with stitch marks. Looks like someone did a really bad job of the patchwork after an operation to somewhere on the chest. Of course it had to do with the heart you dummy. Why else would the movie be called Untamed Heart? It could be called Untamed Chest right? Just kidding guys…. Bad humour on a Friday morning. Nevertheless, Adam is bought up by the nuns @ the orphanage and is led to believe that he has a baboon’s heart transplanted into him. He grows up strongly believing in this and is convinced about it even after 26 years of existence.

Caroline (Marisa Tomei) is your average 20 something in the late 80s / early 90s in the US whose dressing sense is heavily influenced by the queen of pop (bust wasn’t everyone influenced by her in those days). That is when she is not in her waitress uniform which is what one sees through most of the movie. She has had a slew of broken relationships and keeps wondering, like most girls her age would, as to why does she always end up with the wrong guy. That my dear is a zillion dollar question that most people in the world would kill to get an answer to - even her closest friend Cindy (Rosie Perez) who works with her and Adam at the same deli.

Adam secretly adores Caroline but his shy nature prevents him from expressing his feelings to her. He walks her home every night after closing except that Caroline is unaware of this. Adam keeps a safe distance, safe enough for Caroline not to notice that is. Until the day when 2 of Caroline’s old acquaintances land up at the deli. They don’t create a scene @ the deli but when she leaves for the night, they follow her and try to rape her. Unbeknownst to them, Adam is watching all of this till the situation gets out of hand, steps in and of course beats the pulp out of them. He carries an unconscious Caroline home and watches over her on her porch till she wakes up – only to run away. That marks the beginning of the relationship which blossoms into deep love through the course of time.

Untamed Heart is definitely not one of your critically acclaimed movies. I mean – Best Kiss @ the MTV Movie Awards – that’s all it could manage. But it does strike a soft chord with most viewers. It is a mushy love story for sure. But at that point of time, it was the best thing love stories could probably offer. Also, extremely solid commercial intelligence in using 2 of the biggest heart throbs of the 90s. Marisa Tomei for my money’s worth is an extremely extremely talented actress - a fact that she had anyways proven the year before with My Cousin Vinny. She is pushing 50 as we speak and continues to give us great performances whenever she does come on screen. Christian Slater though, for most of his life, has only been eye candy & continues to be so in this one too.

Notable mention though is Rosie Perez. For a long period of time, I was always under the impression that she was nominated for Untamed Heart for her performance as an actress in a supporting role @ the Oscars. It was actually for another stellar performance in Fearless (make mental note to see the movie).

Direction – Tony Bill – OK – cannot expect too much from someone who has been spending his time doing TV series anyways. Overall reasonably enjoyable movie. Tear Jerker for sure. 5 on 10 from my side.