Now if that summary didn't totally confuse you, I am glad! This is a movie I saw when I was in college and, while I would freely admit it was a really silly and dopey film, it still had a lot of charm and I'm glad I saw it.

In particular, I loved the music--even the stuff from (yuck) Boy George. The Giorgio Moroder theme was great and Jeff Lynne's songs were FAR better than the lousy songs he contributed to the rotten film, XANADU. The other contributors also did a good job. I even went so far as to pick up a copy of the album.

Lenny von Dohlen and Virginia Madsen were both fine in the movie--he as a nerdy and hopeless nice guy and she as a beautiful cellist. The ULTRA-STRANGE plot involves Lenny buying a home computer than soon begins showing evidence of a personality. Ultimately, the computer and Lenny fall for Madsen and it is all wrapped together for a happy ending (what else?). Strange yes, but also rather watchable. And, as an interesting curio from the mid-80s, it's worth a look!

Miles Harding (Lenny von Dohlen) is a San Francisco architect working on an earthquake-proof brick. He buys a computer and connects it to his home. He downloads everything and spills champagne onto the computer. Madeline Robistat (Virginia Madsen) moves in upstairs. The computer becomes fascinated with her cello playing and joins in. Madeline thinks it's Miles playing. They start dating with the computer creating music for Madeline and Miles taking the credit. That is until the computer revolt.

This was movie computing. It's absolutely silly but it's probably one of the most romantic computer movies. It's 80's-tastic. It takes bits from Cyrano de Bergerac and gives it an alternate ending. It's got the synthpoppy Video and quite a few fun songs. It's got the lovely Virginia Madsen and nerd-hunky Lenny von Dohlen. It's completely silly but charming nonetheless.

Steve Barron's "Electric Dreams" will almost certainly be one of the hardest movies to find, but if you can you should definitely check it out. It got released around the time when computers were starting to become part of everyone's lives, and it seems to be predicting just how much these devices would come to dominate our lives. Lenny Von Dohlen (never heard of him until I saw this movie) plays an architect who buys a computer to get better organized, but an unexpected event turns the thing into a sillier version of HAL...especially after the owner falls for his musician neighbor (a young Virginia Madsen).

At once piece of light entertainment and a look at relationships, this movie does it just right. Some scenes are probably just comic relief, like the concert, but the computer does teach the man a good lesson about life. You're bound to love what the computer does in the movie's last scene.

All in all, a really fun movie. I can't believe that it's out of print while tons of boring movies get special edition DVDs. Definitely check it out if you can. Watch for a young Miriam Margolyes as a ticket taker.