Truly Dreadful Film

The Worst Film Ever

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Other than Eric Stoltz, I found the teen characters here completely unrealistic, some of them of late college age, and others either totally unlikable, badly acted, or empty inside where it counts. At times I thought Mary Stuart Masterson came off zombie like, and other times, completely out of character for what she was playing when fully at attention in the part. She's an outsider, hating the A group (can't blame her for that...) and at times to only want friendship with Stoltz then staring at him strangely. A girl's locker room sequence is completely uncomfortable to watch as she looks on at the basically nice Lea Thompson with a combination of lust and loathing. Camera shots going down Thompson's panty clad body is severely gratuitous. Then there's Stoltz's family: a father who interferes in his desires for his own future, completely obnoxious and despicable; the mother who seemingly ignores her daughter's out of preference for her son; and the two younger sisters, one just absolutely unlikable and self centered, and the baby just longing for some kind of attention and getting none. The only thing about that family I liked was seeing one of my all time favorite soap divas (Jane Elliott) playing a far cry from Tracy Quartermain as a working class mother. The situation of Thompson apparently using Stoltz to get back at old boyfriend Craig Scheffer was absurd, cliched and boring, presenting an obnoxious story that shows a generation who would now be parents of post college age adults acting just as badly as the young generation today. No wonder adults ignored my generation when I was a teen, and no wonder why my generation ignores high school age kids today!

John Hughes was sort of the master at this kind of film, producing lots in quick succession around similar themes. This is perhaps my favourite of his work.It's a simple story, beautifully told, with three good central performances. As with any Hughes film the music equally plays its part to good effect as well.I know that 'Breakfast Club' is the best known of Hughes' 80's comedies, with 'Pretty in Pink' also having a strong following, but for me there are so many lovely moments within this film that it's stuck with me the more times I see it.I can only recommend you take a look at it yourself.

What does it seem that all teen comedies from the 80's have in common? Well, they were influenced in some way or the other by the legendary John Hughes. For this film, Some Kind of Wonderful, he penned the script. He wrote such a touching, heartfelt script and thankfully, that carried over to the final product. The film is heartfelt and earnest and is also a realistic take on high school romance. The film seems a little outdated, but if you strip away the layers, everything is the same no matter the year.Howard Deutch directed a romance film that takes a look of the high school's social hierarchy that one comes to assume. This is about some working-class kid named Keith who falls for the pretty Amanda Jones, despite her influences with the rich and popular. Meanwhile, his best friend is the tomboyish Watts who finds out she has feelings for Keith after he asks Amanda out.The acting is very good and believable. Lea Thompson is most likely the biggest star here and she does extremely well as Amanda, who tries to be with the rich and popular despite being poor. Eric Stoltz impressed me as Keith who is nice and laidback. Mary Stuart Masterson does a solid job as Watts and this is probably her best role.Overall, Some Kind of Wonderful is an 80's teen film that will keep you engaged. Despite several clichés, the film works because it has an emotional core with a strong script by Hughes and fantastic acting which makes the audience care strongly about what is going on. This is one of those films that makes me realize how great the 1980's were for film, especially with all these teen comedies. This is another great teen romance/comedy that we have all come to love. I rate this film 9/10.

Some Kind of Wonderful was written and produced by John Hughes, the man who most people call the 80s king. His teen based movies did very well with audiences of all ages and are still hailed as some of the best movies of that decade. But then you get this movie, which by all accounts should be excellent, but when you look at the trite storyline and shallow characters you think "John Hughes wrote this?"Don't get me wrong, I give this movie 7/10 because, for some reason or other, this movie, with all of its unoriginality and basically second rate story, captures your attention and you find yourself watching it over and over again. The character Watts was perhaps the only refreshing thing in the film. Her blatant disdain for her friend Keith's interest in a preppy girl isn't subtle and isn't annoying. She lets him know that she doesn't approve with her snide comments and concerns for him. I like to think it's her way of alerting her somewhat oblivious friends to her feelings for him. Mary Stuart Masterson did an impeccable job as the sexy tomboy best friend.Keith's character, although cute in his naive and unsure manner, isn't as likable as Watts; But this is masterfully done because you feel that his character shouldn't be as cool as Watts. You see in him purity of mind and heart and you know that without his best friend he wouldn't get very far in life before someone or something rocks his world, (and not in a good way.) All of these characters at first seem shallow and underdeveloped, but as you watch you realize that that is part of the movie's charm. You don't know everything about these characters because you are only glimpsing a week in the life of these kids, and they aren't spilling their guts and innermost feelings to you like in "The Breakfast Club" and they don't pine and long for someone they know they cannot have such as the characters in "Pretty in Pink" and "Sixteen Candles." They try to attain what their hearts want the most, but the two go about it differently. By the end of this movie you're smiling (Not at the abrupt ending where Keith realizes who he really loves) but at the fact that you know that this here is another classic and you think, "Yes, this is John Hughes."