DarthVoorhees 'Heartbeeps' is a very stupid idea for a movie. It has a great theme ,the line between love and artificial and human life, but you really can't execute any of it for any dramatic value in a film as goofy as this. The problem with 'Heartbeeps' is that the script is so incredibly boring. Val and Aqua, our robot heroes, have dialogue written entirely in programing speak. The dialogue combined with Stan Winston's repulsive make-up is a disjointing and often very awkward experience. A lot is working against 'Heartbeeps' and yet the film is saved from the bomb rating it probably deserves. Andy Kaufman is absolutely brilliant in it. Appropriately enough with the make-up and the dialogue everything seems artificial in 'Heartbeeps', Kaufman is able to take the material to a very emotional and human level.I am a fan of Andy Kaufman. He was a true American original and I don't think you'll ever see any one quite like him ever again. Kaufman made a career defying the theatrical conventions we have been ingrained to follow. He was far too unconventional I think to find success as a film actor in the Hollywood system. With 'Heartbeeps' though Kaufman uses his strengths as a master of defying expectations to his advantage. Behind Kaufman's work there was always a strong sense of some hyper superficial emotion being relayed (often it was bizarre anger). No one ever really got to know the true Andy because he hid it so well in a persona. I think this trait works very well with Val. Val does not experience emotion and so when he starts to it is awkward and choppy and hidden behind so much of a shell that was put before him. This concept of freeing one self from these shells and experiencing something new is what defines Kaufman and his audience. I can't think of a better actor than Andy Kaufman to tackle this kind of role.The rest of the film is pretty boring and underdeveloped. As a comedy it is pretty painfully unfunny (Although I will say I love the unflattering caricature of Rodney Dangerfield called Catskill). The film's greatest flaw is that there is no real impetus for the adventure these robots undertake and thus their discovery of a kind of humanity does not really have an impact because we don't really see a before and after. I would have liked to have seen them drop some of the robot mannerisms as they become human because what makes these Pinocchio stories interesting is the sense of transformation.Kaufman is what makes this film worth a view because otherwise it is pretty bad. 'Heartbeeps' really serves as a reminder of the fact that we lost Andy Kaufman far too soon. I'd like to think that with better roles tailored to his strengths he could have reached great heights as an actor.

Wizard-8 If you have witnessed Andy Kaufman's slant on comedy, you may understand why I avoided this movie of his for years. Actually, for most of that time, I couldn't see it even if I wanted to - video stores in my area didn't stock it, and it never appeared on TV. I had to rent it online when recently I finally got the courage to give it a try.My heart sank during the first few seconds of the movie. The comedy in this opening is both very familiar and unfunny, and the movie manages to sink further and further as it goes on. There's barely a story here, with the bulk of the movie consisting of the robots wandering around... and around... and around until you want to scream. It doesn't help that the robot characters are a turn-off. They don't have much of a personality (they seem very stupid - why should we care about stupid characters?), and their voices are very annoying to the ear.The makeup is good, I'll admit. But it seems odd that they spent time for the makeup when not bothering to present the rest of this world as a futuristic world (the vehicles of this world, for one thing, are present-day gas-powered vehicles.) It's even more odd to consider that no one involved with this movie realized along the way that this project was a train wreck.

mark-4401 Little did I know that when I signed up the the "all pay channel" package with Direct TV that I would face a movie like this. It came on right after another movie we had been watching... and I was a teenager in 1981 so am not sure where I was at the time... but I missed this movie.I also can't believe we left it on. It is kind-of funny as it takes you back in the time machine to the early 80s... but I think even then this would have been a painful movie. It was just... well... "too cute"! ET was "cute" in a way... but not obnoxiously cute... and stupid.When I see a movie like this... I come on onto IMDb to see what others say. I am blown away that this thing was nominated! Wow... the movie industry has come a long way since the 80s! Oh well... it did show some old actors... btw that is the other thing I was surprised about... the lineup... not a bunch of no-names... but some real actors/actresses. Must have been in their drug days! Anyways... odd, interesting, bizarre, and makes one happy they grew up!

lordzedd-3 Okay, where to begin. Did you know that the part of the lead robots were offered to famous mime team Shields and Arnez? Bet ya didn't. But they turned it down complaining about robot make-up. Then they faded off into obscurity. Now, this movie has everything. A crazed killer robot who thinks he's dirty Harry. Lots of cool robots. It's funny, it's touching, it's the perfect date movie for people who love sci-fi and romantic comedies. It's the first robot romantic comedy. Now of course very few movies are perfect and there are some character issues. But there are very minor and can be overlooked. I think couples will enjoy this movie and will want to watch it over and over again. 9 STARS.