John Hughes? Really?
I can't believe John Hughes wrote this mess of a piece of cinema. It must have gone through re-writes, because I refuse to believe it! It's just atrocious!
shareIt just shows you that a bad director and a bad actor can ruin a good script.
shareWhy are you so surprised? It has many similarities with Hughes' earlier works. There's angst and parent hating. You have the geek who loves home life and the pretty girl who's unsatisfied with her home lives. Sound familiar. You have a guy trapped alone in a building with two burglars and outsmarting them. Too familiar. Sounds like your garden-variety John Hughes movie to me.
shareHughes was in the throes of getting anything -- down to his grocery list -- sold and put into a theater. Home Alone was both his crowning moment and his nadir, as it resulted in home being overexposed, and half-conceived junk like this being filmed. He was on his decline after the mastery of the 80s, and began churning out Home Alone clones and somehow this and Curly Sue slipped in. I believe this was one of about 10 films released between 90-95. Howard Deutch tells of falling asleep during a Hughes writing session for Some Kind of Wonderful, only to wake up to Hughes having completed 65 pages of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Hughes could write this in his sleep...or in this case, somebody else's.
shareHughes disowned this movie - from an NYT article in '91
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/04/magazine/him-alone.html?pagewanted=all
"Hughes's anger was further enflamed by Universal's release, in March, of "Career Opportunities." The film, which he now calls cheap and vulgar, is from an original screenplay of his, and he was also listed as a co-producer. But his suggestions, he says, went ignored. He tried to buy his name off the movie, but in the wake of "Home Alone," Universal would not accommodate him. "Suddenly I'm a commodity," Hughes says. "If 'Home Alone' hadn't come out, my name wouldn't be on 'Career Opportunities' four times. My big fear is disappointing people. It bothers me if even one person comes out of that theater and says John Hughes is a jerk because I paid $7.50 and look what I got." (A spokesman for Universal says the company's executives will not comment on Hughes's claim that he was dealt with unfairly.)"
It was very easy to see the hughes influences. Especially in whaley. Who was basically just a mish mash of ferris, ducky and farmer ted. And lets be honest, with all her 80's experience, molly ringwald could have played connelly's character in her sleep.
shareAnd lets be honest, with all her 80's experience, molly ringwald could have played connelly's character in her sleep.
...Molly Ringwald? The main reason people watch this movie is for the Jennifer Connelly eye candy. The fact that she's a fine actress is just icing on the cake.
The problem with this movie is the fact that it's only 83 min long. When a movie can't even make it to 90 min, it's clearly going to feel disjointed and incomplete. share
Yeah...it's pretty clear that this had the Hughes influences...but wasn't done to his standard.
There are times it almost feels like a cheap Hughes' ripoff.
That said, looking back I think it's a tad bit underrated. There are some funny parts of this movie. The ending feels rushed...almost like they just wanted to get it over with.
Some missed potential here too...as Whaley seemed to be right for the role, but the role almost didn't go far enough, which makes some people think Whaley is just doing a Ferris Bueller impersonation. Same thing with Dermit Mulroney...perfect fit for that role, but the role doesn't go far enough.
The whole thing feels rushed. Like the studio just wanted to get this out there to cash in on Hughes' name and popularity...which is pretty much what happened.