Bingowings said:
Buckaroo Banzai certainly isn’t so bad it’s good it’s just something that should be fun and is quirky and full of ideas but just doesn’t work for reasons which aren’t really easy to define.
It’s almost like the product of an alien culture where the points of reference are unknown so nothing it attempts to do really clicks.
If you sat down and tried to describe it to someone the film in their head particularly with that cast would be much better than the actual film.
I liked the movie for exactly the reason you seem to dislike it. I think it is intended as a huge inside joke. It’s not meant for you or me, or anyone in particular for that matter. It’s a middle finger to people who demand that entertainment be instantly relatable or even understood at all.
Nothing exemplifies this more than the watermelon scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpVXpCNFOSg
There is no in-movie payoff for this exchange, only weirdness. You have to do some outside research to figure out the backstory of this strain of high velocity fruit, but when you do, it’s oddly gratifying. There IS a logic to parts of the movie, even if much of it defies easy characterization.