St Elmos Fire

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yeah, it's one of those 80s college (or in this case post-college) movies I'd never really gotten around to (going to try 'Class' soon as well) and I must say while I liked the attention being on damaged but quite intelligent fuck-ups (it's sort of a scuzzier Metropolitan) it's kind of uneven. The side story with Emelio Estevez chasing Andi McDowell was done in this ridiculously ill-suited slapstick fashion which was really off-kilter with the rest of the film. I like how even in the most emotional moments the film has some level of contempt for the characters, who really are in the main a confused lot- sans the ludicrous lack of self-awareness of those in Metropolitan.

It's good in the way that certain things in the film are hinted at rather than focused on- often in genuine friendship groups you get the hint something is up and nothing more. The characters are all in some way confused- the only really likeable one was Ally Sheedy's character who remained the one person with integrity.

There's quite a lot in there about the morals of sex, dealing with life and jobs, how not to go around thinking you know it all. Pretty solid. I also got the impression that apart from Rob Lowe's alarming character, they were all nice people underneath, but peer pressure had forced them into areas of unhappiness- pressure to get married, pressure to look successful at work, pressure to have an attractive girlfriend etc, which wasn't the reason they became friends in the first place. The film to me has a moral at the end which is to try and be yourself and accept that your friends love you for who you are.

Anyway, I thought it to be not bad. It's about where I am age-wise, so I perhaps relate a little more to it than some.

[Doomy Dwyer]

Have you seen 'About Last Night'? It's another Brat Pack job, Rob and Demi etc. It's based on a David Mamet play 'Sexual Perversity in Chicago'. Not that I knew that at the time. I've just found out from wikipedia. I haven't seen it since the eighties, and I'm talking about the real eighties son - Thatch and Frankie, and the Miners not this dreadful rehash we're being fobbed off with now. I saw it on VHS video - remember them? - the box was huge, like a table top it was. Anyway, all I remember about it was Jim Belushi telling a very long, amusing story for the first half hour. That's it. Might be worth a look, if you fancy a bit of this sort of thing. It's David Mamet, so it might be all right. In those days, I loved John Belushi. Still do I suppose. And I couldn't get John so Jim had to do. They were rough times. I soon realised my mistake.

Could be very poor. It also features the sport of softball.

[SavageHedgehog]

I saw it the summer before I started Univesity and really liked it. I saw it again a few years later and didn't enjoy it as much. Even though it's fairly dark one critic said it was more a film for teens who like to imagine how cool it will be to be a young adult than it is for actual young adults, and I'd agree with that or at least it worked out that way for me. I'd take it over The Breakfast Club personally, which doesn't really work for me at all.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It'd be nice to see a good American film about young people that didn't fall into the high school/college category, contained less broadly drawn stereotypes and actually said something about being that age- which this film does do, at least. Are there any, from modern times? And any that attempt humour at some stage?

[SavageHedgehog]

Greenberg has moments of that, but the main focus is on a middle aged man

[Famous Mortimer]

It'd be nice to see a good American film about young people that didn't fall into the high school/college category, contained less broadly drawn stereotypes and actually said something about being that age- which this film does do, at least. Are there any, from modern times? And any that attempt humour at some stage?

I suppose they're still college-ish age in "Reality Bites" and "Singles"?

[El Unicornio, mang]

It'd be nice to see a good American film about young people that didn't fall into the high school/college category, contained less broadly drawn stereotypes and actually said something about being that age- which this film does do, at least. Are there any, from modern times? And any that attempt humour at some stage?

Stand By Me? (possibly younger than you're talking about)

Dazed and Confused is school-based but is a bit different

[Hot Pants]

the breakfast club and dazed & confused pretty accurately reflect a lot of people's high school days....
i think that's why they're so popular....

[dredd]

It'd be nice to see a good American film about young people that didn't fall into the high school/college category, contained less broadly drawn stereotypes and actually said something about being that age- which this film does do, at least. Are there any, from modern times? And any that attempt humour at some stage?

I would say Kicking and Screaming (1995) fits the bill nicely. Garam gave it a fair kicking in the "1001 films not worth watching" thread the other day, mind (which I'm still quietly seething about).

[SavageHedgehog]

Reality Bites is one of my least favourite films ever, as is the vaguely similar Empire Records. But don't take my word on them

[Tiny Poster]

Greenberg has moments of that, but the main focus is on a middle aged man

Greenberg is one of the most tedious films ever. And I like Altman/Leigh character studies!

[Phil_A]

Stand By Me? (possibly younger than you're talking about)

Dazed and Confused is school-based but is a bit different

Linklater's earlier Slacker might be a better choice, as it's not specifically school or college based

Slacker Trailer

[rjd2]

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.


Watch it legally their.

Anyways on the teen coming of age Yank films, my favorites are obvious and slightly sentimental, ferris bueller's day off, American Grafitti and of course Last Picture Show which was quite bleak actually.