Perhaps the strangest film I have ever seen...

So, we're flipping around the Encore network tonight when we settle on "Private Lessons" after failing to find a better alternative. Never having heard of the film and knowing absolutely nothing about it, I was completely caught off guard. Probably because the first part of "Private Lessons" was missed, I honestly thought this film was being played straight. The frivolity, I assumed, could be chalked up to that early 80s "after school special" gaudiness.

I thought we were being set up for a cautionary tale about a predatory sexual relationship in the guise of a softporn exploitation flick. Instead, it dawned on me (I think it was during the snooty French waiter scene) that what I was watching was very much intended as a comedy.

And it is very funny--I enjoyed the film immensely and would love to see it shown in a "Midnight Movie" nostalgia venue. But was anybody else just a tad uncomfortable with the theme of Private Lessons, not to mention the sexual liasons that drive most of the plot?

And the way the movie leaves off seems to suggest that Mallow's completely inappropriate relationship with "Philly" is condoned, when clearly someone engaged in this sort of behavior is a few bricks shy of a load (pardon the expression). Yes, what teenage boy wouldn't want to be in Philly's shoes, of course, but what's happening on screen is clearly wrong.

This is a thematically, tonally confused film and just simply one of the strangest "mainstream" movies I have ever, ever seen. And in that sense, it's a true early 80s gem.

How weird...