Strong and Moving!

Fantastic!

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

I couldn't watch more than a half-hour of this movie! In the modern era of female equality, just about every scene raises the hackles! And to think these female victims (or dupes as portrayed!) are now the ones charging men with inappropriate sexual behaviour is beyond belief.

Part of what I do in my IMDb reviews is look for hi-quality films that, for whatever reason, are not getting their due. That this film makes the list is a no-brainer. For reasons which have more to do with human nature than common sense, John Hughes' productions from the same period have become iconic and cool, but this John Sayle gem (what another IMDb member correctly described as unforgettable) has been lost in the shuffle. It deserves much more. As I keep saying in my reviews, the key to entertainment is viewer connection, engagement. The late Roger Ebert nailed it when he revealed the "watch test" to the audience. The more times you check your watch, the less the connection, the lower the entertainment value. (Hollywood does not get this and never will. As this is written, the Oscars, one of the most brilliant and deceptive self-promotions in the sordid history of advertising, is all about what actors and directors think about EACH other, not about the audience!) This could be Spano's best performance, pitch perfect, makes Travolta (from the same era) look like an amateur. And Rosanna Arquette has not been treated kindly by the critics in retrospect. She was not merely eye candy. She knew how to sell a character. One of the best "love stories" (not merely teen movies) ever, and deserving of a higher rating.

Although I would have thought that this coming-of-age story had universal truths, I see enough negative comments that perhaps you've got to be a Baby-Boomer to love this film.The dialog is spot-on, and the lead characters beautifully personify pre-Kennedy assassination America... an innocence that comes into conflict with the hippie-era political activism, drug exploration, and general upheaval of middle American values. There are actually so many interesting layers to this film, though, I can hardly go into all of them here.Highly sensitive acting by all, one of Sayles' best.

As the title says, this film is very moving, emotionally. So moving in fact, that it stayed with me for days after I saw it for the first time. Personally, I was initially sucked into this movie by the soundtrack. Some of the best songs from the mid-1960's are included in this picture. However, the soundtrack was not the only compelling aspect. This movie tended to be a lot more realistic than your average romantic film.This movie really allows the audience to ride the emotional roller-coaster right along with Jill (Rosanna Arquette) and Sheik (Vincent Spano), as they experience the peaks and valleys of first love. On top of that, the characters are very easy to relate to because we've all been there at one time or another with our own relationships. Although the movie is set in 1966-67, the underlying theme of the trials and tribulations of first love is something every generation can identify with.Although the storyline tends to slightly lose some steam after graduation, it gives the audience a chance to see life after high school for both Jill and Sheik, and how both of them deal with post-graduation life both together and separately. Even this part of movie (which I refer to as the second half) had some unexpected twists in store for the audience.Rosanna Arquette and Vincent Spano both turn in wonderful performances as the two lead characters. I honestly couldn't imagine the film with different actors playing those roles. The only thing I never understood was why the movie itself didn't get the push it so richly deserved, when it was initially released. It could have been a real sleeper hit, had it been promoted properly. However, that shouldn't take away from the overall quality of this film.