From the moment I saw the trailer for this film, I knew it would be for me. A movie set in the 80’s? With awesome 80’s music? Yes please!
So to start with, the main characters all went to Shermer High. Yes children, that is the same high school attended by such luminaries as the Breakfast Club.
The cast. Ahh, the cast. We have Topher Grace playing MIT grad and stuck in neutral Suncoast Video (yay Suncoast!) attendant Matt Franklin. His twin Wendy is played by Anna Farris. The there is Dan Fogler who plays car salesmen extreme, and Matt’s best friend Barry Nathan.
So, now that the main characters are lined up, we come to the plot. Wendy’s ass hat boyfriend is holding some annual ‘lets all get stupid drunk on Labor Day’ party. The scene is set. At this party, Matt is carrying on the lie he told his un-requited love Tori Fredriking (Teresa Palmer) that he is a hot shot banker at Goldman Sachs. Spoiler: he isn’t. Right, should have mentioned that Matt ran into Tori at Suncoast where he pretended he did not work at Suncoast.
So at the part, mass chaos ensues, as it does at parties such as these. There is even a scene near and dear to my heart as Barry wraps a tie around his head and cuts loose… footloose. Close personal friends of Lord Zupka, and probably some not as close will know I have done this in my rather checked past.
In the end, you can all kinda figure out what happens next. Matt woos the girl, takes a jump on a trampoline with her, the lie is discovered and he does crazy shit to prove his good intentions. Oh, and since this is the 80’s there was cocaine involved.
I really liked this movie. I thought all the characters were well written, it captured what I imagine the 80’s to feel like, and the music was awesome.
One last note…I do think this movie must have set some sort of cinematic record, as Michael Biehn (Matt’s dad) DOES NOT DIE. Weird, I know! Most (if not all movies) I have that star Mr. Biehn, Mr. Biehn ends up dead.
*yes, I was playing ‘Take Me Home Tonight by Eddie Money while writing this. I know you were wondering. And you can watch the movie yourself right here.
Other than the admittedly awesome soundtrack, what was the point of setting this in the 80s? This could just have easily been set today.
I was about the same age in 1988 as the characters. They didn’t even come close to how big the hair was back then, or how bad the clothes were. At least The Wedding Singer gave Adam Sandler a mullet (although they completely missed the mark on Drew Barrymore’s ‘do).