Wonderful Movie

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The director of "My Brilliant Career", the Production Designer of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", a choreographer working without trained dancers, several script writers and many composers bring a low-budget post-punk vitality to Sydney Australia.As the commentary on the DVD mentions, the prints of Starstruck seem to have been severely cut in different releases, and this print has at least one song hacked out of the release I saw in 1982. Still, the bouncy energy survives. Teenage lust and ambition are tempered with working class family values. The homage to Richard Lester and gay Busby Berkeley routine are still hilarious, and the finale will have your toes a-tapping.

I LOVE this movie! I would be endlessly happy if this would be released in the US on DVD, and also a CD for the soundtrack which is amazing. I had my cousin in Australia buy me the LP years ago, but no longer have the means to play it. I did put a couple of the songs on a walking tape I made years ago, and I never got tired of them. The music is very catchy. I've never seen Jo Kennedy in anything since, which is surprising, because I thought she was quite good. This is a very fun movie, full of great performances and quirky characters.I think this was the start of my love for quirky Australian films. I really do hope to own it on DVD someday! Please! Someone. Someone who has some influence. Please! :-)

I have not seen Starstruck since it's original run in the theaters but I love this movie and hope to see it again soon. I was really into new wave music at the time, especially what was coming from Manchester and Birmingham, and Dublin. I liked some Aussie bands like the Sharks but mostly I liked Aussie movies which were just starting to make an impact in America in the early 80's. Movies like Breaker Morant, Mad Max, Walkabout, Young Einstein, Gallipoli, and Starstruck. Although I have never been to Australia I have been intrigued by the quirky sense of humor I find in Aussie films. Strictly Ballroom a decade later was much in the same tradition, it had the same spirit as Starstruck. What happened to Aussie cinema? It seems that there are many Australian actors like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe who take themselves so seriously and mostly act in Hollywood films playing non Australians. Even Peter Weir is no longer making Australian movies. I say bring em back!

I saw this during the Australian wave of films. I was being inundated on sort of dark pieces and this was an eye opener to say the least. I hadn't expected such a bright and lively piece. This is a wonderful piece of work. Everything fits. The cast is perfect. Each so in tune with their roles, each ringing true in dialogue and action. The music is both stylistically correct and true to the genre. Many times tunes written for movies that are rock or pop oriented turn out to be lame, musically incorrect, or both. This is not the case here.Gillian Armstrong shows an airy touch, while still maintaining that solid control of characters and visually precise scene setup she has demonstrated in other films, such as "My Brilliant Career" and the sadly overlooked "Oscar and Lucinda". All in all this is an enjoyable experience. Nothing earthshattering or profound but good workmanship and totally fun.