I liked the film but the music was bad
Overall that I liked it, 127 minutes, boom, in and out, nice little story about 3 friends and the trials and tribulations of growing up, almost reaching adulthood. Jennifer Connelly was great, but the two friends Jeff and Polly were stand-outs. I liked the Polly character the best out of the 3 with her story being the funniest and most interesting.
Can't believe all the main 3 characters were around 15 years old when this was filmed. You just don't get that today. Back in the 80s they were making tons of films with teenagers or young adults in the lead roles carrying a whole movie on their back.
The downside, the music is god awful and overpowering.
It's a 1985 film with music taken straight from a late 70s early 80s light comedy TV show with a TV show house band composing all the tracks. They really cheaped out with the music.
Some teen films of the time the songs of the day so it gives it that edge, a feel, and in the editing almost creating a music video within a film, it puts it in a perfect time capsule. If you watch a few teen movies from the 80s you notice that some productions have spent a lot of cash on the music, others do go cheaper with smaller unknown bands and music but its still contemporary to the time and pretty good. Then there's the 3rd category where they don't spend a dime on music.
This film falls into the 3rd category. The music was outdated before it hit the cinema which would have been a big detriment to its word of mouth compared to its contemporaries and still effects it today.
Thats probably a big reason why its not remembered with the 80s kids who were spoiled by MTV and teen movies like the John Hughes films having all the banging tracks of the time laid over every scene, then they came out to watch this film only to hear cheap assed cheesy music amd probably got bored with their low attention spans, and nauseous because of the cheesfest music.
Just imagine Karate Kid without that Bananarama song Cruel Summer when Daniel is riding the bike from school, also remove the Bill Conti score. Replace them with some cheesy TV house band music and its not the same film. It also changes the way the film would be edited. Gone are the snappy edits around the music.
Having the songs of the day included is a must for success and longevity. It especially worked with that John Hughes sound. Give the film a "sound" (like Tuff Turf) inject it into the film, and today it emits a massive nostalgia vibe even if you don't like those same songs when played on the radio today or for the last 30 years. It wraps you up in that time capsule blanket and you sink right into it all warm and cozy. Would watching the end of The Breakfast Club be the same without "Don't You Forget About Me".
Other than that I would still recommend. The 3 leads are really good with some very good scenes based around the Polly character.