Yes, Virginia, there is a 97 minute version. You don't want it.

Alright, LOOK, guys. Everybody siddown and shuddup, and I'll explain why we have this discrepancy going on here.

I wrote a review of this little gem for a college course many moons ago (got a B-), and while doing background research I got the straight scoop from a newspaper article about "the making of" (New York Times magazine section IIRC). This movie was the ultimate example of filmmaking by focus group.

They wrote and shot several hours worth of scenes for this movie, screened it all for test audiences of horny teenagers, asked them to rate each scene, then pieced the winners together into some semblance of a story. Which is why there are some plot points and transitions that don't make a lick of sense.

For instance, why did Rita get grounded in the cheerleader outfit incident when it was her outfit that was tampered with? Because the grounding scene was shot separately before they knew what they were going to do with it. Can't let a minor thing like plot get in the way of Kari Lizer's doodahs, right?

The version they put together for TV syndication bears only passing resemblance to the theatrical version, since there's not a whole lot of this movie you can put on broadcast television (late-night small-market UHF stations notwithstanding). It is assembled largely from scenes that didn't make it into the original version because they didn't test well, but were clean enough, and long enough, to fill two hours of TV time with commercial breaks added.

THAT'S THE 97 MINUTE VERSION!!! The made-for-TV one. Which I believe is what Leonard Maltin reviewed. If you were to piece together all the scenes from both movies, you'd probably be looking at way over 2 hours.

Most of the new material consists of excruciatingly tedious romantic interludes between Kris and Jim at the Hotel d'Amour with "Just One Touch" playing incessantly in the background. These go on for about 14 hours of the 97 minute run time, and by about the 29th "ooo-ooo" intro of that dang song, you're quite ready to shoot the TV, and you wish those two simpering teen weenies would just shut the heck up, even if one of them IS Phoebe Cates. The new scenes don't advance the plot one bit. They're only there to fill time between commercials.

Most of the songs from the original soundtrack were replaced with the new Phoebe Cates/Bill Wray material to avoid licensing fees. I believe this was true of the VHS release as well. The song list elsewhere in these boards is correct for the original cut. I don't know (yet) what they did for the DVD.

You do not need the 97 minute TV version. You do not WANT the 97 minute TV version. No matter how much longer it is, or how much more of Betsy Russell's back it shows. It's a massive waste of 97 minutes.

And there are no boobies in it.