Movie Review: Only The Lonely (1991)

A romantic comedy about breaking the umbilical cord, Only The Lonely benefits from a strong cast and sharply drawn characters.

In Chicago, Danny Muldoon (John Candy) is a 38 year old police officer of Irish descent, content with a stalled career driving the prisoner transfer wagon. A batchelor without romantic prospects, he lives with his overbearing, racist and caustic mother Rose (Maureen O'Hara), and dedicates his life to pleasing her. His brother Patrick (Kevin Dunn) is happy to take advantage of Danny's easy-going nature. Meanwhile neighbour Nick (Anthony Quinn) is trying, most unsuccessfully, to start a romance with Rose.

Danny meets mortician Theresa Luna (Ally Sheedy), and they start dating. She is an introvert, and he helps her break out of her shell. But Rose is terrified of losing control over Danny, and starts undermining the budding romance. Partick starts pushing for Danny and Rose to relocate to Florida to avoid any responsibilities for looking after his mother. As much as Theresa starts to love Danny, she needs him to learn to stand up for himself.

A John Hughes production playing on the theme of nice guys finish last (or never even enter the race), Only The Lonely teases out the clash between family loyalty and personal growth. Writer and director Chris Columbus creates a conflict triangle, Danny forced to confront the incompatibility between unquestionable dedication to a selfish mother and starting down the road towards defining his own happiness.

The film maintains an agreeable sense of humour throughout, and the romance between two tentative and self-doubting individuals evolves in modest increments. However, the 12 year age difference between Candy and Sheedy is an unnecessary irritant, and Columbus cannot avoid the tendency to overproduce (both Halloween and Christmas have to make dressed-up appearances). A couple of jokes ("sometimes it's good to be a cop") are overused to eye-rolling levels, and the climax ends with the oh-so-tired race to an unplanned rendevouz.

But credit is due for featuring a portly actor as the romantic lead, and for venturing into the relatively rarely explored terrain of difficult mother-son relationships. Older people can get away with a lot by playing the age and experience card, and here Columbus asks how far is too far and when should verbal abuse, emotional blackmail and racism be called out, regardless of the aggressor's age and family ties. Because this is a romantic comedy Rose's character is afforded a soft landing, but the questions raised are worthwhile.

Maureen O'Hara is a sparkly presence in her return to the big screen for the first time since 1971's Big Jake, and Anthony Quinn is the grizzled veteran seeking a final romance in the sunset of life. Jim Belushi and Macaulay Culkin appear in small supporting roles. 

Only The Lonely glides towards the usual tidy endings with no loose thread left behind, but does so with admirable depth and polish for the genre.



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Movie Review: Oxford Blues (1984)

A romantic sports drama and comedy, Oxford Blues showcases Rob Lowe's burgeoning charisma but stumbles into stuffy rooms full of cliches.

In Las Vegas, Nick Di Angelo (Lowe) is a brash high school graduate and aspiring rower. He is working as a valet while scamming his way up the waiting list towards admission at Oxford University, where he intends to win the heart of Lady Victoria (Vicky) Wingate (Amanda Pays). After a big night with a generous cougar (Gail Strickland), Nick heads to England.

At Oxford he bumps into fellow American Rona (Ally Sheedy), and finds Vicky engaged to the aristocratic Colin Fisher (Julian Sands). Rowing coach Simon Rutledge (Alan Howard) introduces Nick to the rowing team coxed by Rona, but Nick is a loner and resists the concept of teamwork. He makes progress romancing Vicky and ignores Rona's interest, but his short-tempered me-first attitude antagonises his classmates and the university administration.

Applying healthy doses of the ugly American abroad, old fashioned rebellion exemplified by a leather jacket, and stereotypical British classist stuffiness luxuriating within the walls of a venerable institution, Oxford Blues appears to seek out every overly-familiar chestnut. The story of an outsider disrupting traditions to grab what he wants and in the process learning what it takes to succeed in life is as quaint as they come, and writer/director Robert Boris adds little in the way of zest.

But to his credit Boris does navigate a scenic path around teen-oriented college comedies, sports dramas, a romantic triangle with touches of humour, and coming-of-age lessons in life. The on-location filming conveys a sense of place, while the de rigueur 1980s musical montage features Nick getting to grips with being part of a rowing team, and is the film's best moment. Unfortunately the opportunity to delve just a bit deeper into some of rowing's traditions and mechanics is missed.

The plot logic is flighty at best, this Oxford a place where hardly anyone appears to attend classes or stress about academic performance, while the blue-blooded Lady Victoria is quick to invite Nick's pawing.

However, Rob Lowe at 20 years old does not care much for rationality, as he radiates star potential and glides through campus fueled by searing eyes and that hair. He owns the self deprecating opportunities and convinces as a single-minded young man bulldozing his way towards what he wants until force meets wall. And at Oxford, the walls are built to last longer than the stamina of a young American.

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Movie Review: Betsy's Wedding (1990)

A boisterous comedy, Betsy's Wedding finds laughs by refreshing the story of a father overwhelmed by his daughter's impending nuptials.

Eddie Hopper (Alan Alda) is a contractor based in Long Island, New York, and married to Lola (Madeline Kahn). Their daughter Betsy (Molly Ringwald), a budding fashion designer, announces plans to marry boyfriend Jake (Dylan Walsh), who comes from a wealthy family. Despite mounting debts, Eddie gets carried away and offers to pay for a lavish wedding event.

With money pressures mounting, Eddie turns to his brother-in-law Oscar (Joe Pesci), a sleazy developer and slum landlord, for help. Oscar is cheating on his wife Gloria (Catherine O'Hara), who in turn is surreptitiously profiting from Oscar's business dealings. Oscar connects Eddie with mobster turned investor Georgie (Burt Young). Soon enough, Georgie's nephew Stevie Dee (Anthony LaPaglia) starts an exceedingly gentlemanly romantic pursuit of Eddie's other daughter Connie (Ally Sheedy), a police officer.

Directed and written by Alda, Betsy's Wedding is inspired by Father Of The Bride, and almost as good. While Betsy is essentially reduced to an observer in her own movie, Alda embraces the surrounding madness. The film is all about the insanity that swirls around the main event, and Alda finds plenty of wacky characters and unexpected events to throw at the screen. And with a strong cast and no crass body fluid jokes to be found, this is a classier comedy that scrupulously avoids the lowest common denominator.

Oscar is the husband of Lola's sister, but still close enough to the family to gradually occupy the eye of the storm. With Joe Pesci in fine form, Oscar, whether intentionally or not, opens up the door to mobster mayhem as first Georgie and then Stevie Dee become central players in Eddie's life. Burt Young imports all shades of knock-off Godfather colours into the film, unsettling Eddie and eventually thrusting him into the twilight zone of mafia drive-by shootings.

Meanwhile Anthony LaPaglia steals the movie already stolen by Pesci. Alda deserves credit for clever writing that allows Stevie Dee to shine as a genuine gentleman despite his dubious roots and the gun in his jacket. He pursues his love in courteous style and persistently sets about melting the heart of the tough-as-nails Connie.

Elsewhere enough is going on to maintain admirable energy. Oscar thinks he is hiding an office affair with his assistant who invites herself to the wedding, while all along his wife Gloria is gaining her revenge through shark-like financial dealings. Meanwhile tensions mount between Betsy and Jake, her liberal upbringing and wild fashion sense disturbing the conservative sensibilities of his parents.

The film is just the right length at 94 minutes, and the editing is exceptionally sharp: every scene ends exactly when it should, and not a second later. Betsy's Wedding is not a smooth affair, but it's a memorably chaotic event.

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Movie Review: Short Circuit (1986)

An anti-war teen-oriented comedy, Short Circuit features a cute robot but otherwise perfunctory characters and plot points.

In Oregon, the NOVA military arms manufacturing company has developed five prototype robot soldiers equipped with laser weapons. The robots are designed by young genius Newton Crosby (Steve Guttenberg), who is ironically opposed to war. A lightning strike frazzles the electronics of Number 5 (voiced by Tim Blaney), and the unit escapes from the lab, ending up in the ramshackle home of animal lover Stephanie (Ally Sheedy).

Stephanie and Number 5 get off to a rough start but soon become friends. The robot self-educates, learns what death means, and becomes fearful of being disassembled. Meanwhile Newton and his wise-cracking colleague Ben (Fisher Stevens) race to retrieve their robot, before the militaristic Captain Skroeder (G.W. Bailey) arrives with more extreme solutions.

In the mid-1980s John Badham directed a trio of movies dealing with advanced technology's potential impact on warfare. After 1983's WarGames and Blue Thunder, Short Circuit arrived in 1986 with a lighter touch but the same warning message and an unambiguous anti-war stance.

The film is a showcase for the potential of robotics and artificial intelligence, and features decent mechanical special effects. In many ways Number 5 is also a cousin of E.T., the flummoxed visitor needing to make sense of the world, befriending a lonely human and escaping would-be harm doers. The robot is provided with childlike expressions, innocent mannerisms and some dry comic ability, ensuring maximum cutesiness.

When Number 5 is on the screen, whether reading, watching television, cooking or dancing, Short Circuit works well. The rest of the film is ordinary at best and only appeals to an undiscerning and younger audience. The characters are barely defined, with Stephanie bubbly and Newton grating. Things get worse with the secondary cast members, sidekick Ben's attempts at comic relief often landing in stereotypical territory and Captain Skroeder's shoot-first ethos awkwardly shoehorned into the family-friendly script. The plot runs out of ideas around the halfway point and starts a rinse-and-repeat cycle, while the action-oriented scenes are clunky and hint at budget limitations.

Short Circuit is happy in the company of machines, but blows a fuse when the humans are involved.

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The Movies Of Ally Sheedy

All movies starring Ally Sheedy and reviewed on the Ace Black Blog are linked below:

Bad Boys (1983)

War Games (1983)

Oxford Blues (1984)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

St. Elmo's Fire (1985)

Short Circuit (1986)

Betsy's Wedding (1990)

Only The Lonely (1991)

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The Index of Movie Stars is here.

Movie Review: WarGames (1983)

A technological teen comedy romance thriller, WarGames successfully mixes genres and takes an early look at the world of young geeks and computer hacking.

At the secret Colorado base for the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), systems engineer Dr. John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) believes that computers should replace stress-prone humans to fulfill missile launch orders. In Seattle, high school student David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) has no interest in his classes but plenty of motivation to explore the burgeoning world of computer gaming and networks. As he starts a friendship with classmate Jennifer (Ally Sheedy), David goes looking for the latest gaming code and accidentally hacks his way into the military WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) simulation supercomputer, part of the NORAD network.

David thinks he is playing as game called Global Thermonuclear War, but WOPR was not programmed to understand the difference between scenarios and actual war, causing panic in the war room as the line between reality and simulation is lost and the US military machine is mobilized to respond to a seemingly massive attack by the USSR. David and Jennifer have to track down WOPR's reclusive creator Dr. Stephen Falken (John Wood) to try and stop the chaos.

Directed by John Badham, WarGames defies easy categorization. It's a a high school comedy, a techno-thriller, a young romance and a fulmination against military incompetence, complete with the most impressive war room set since Dr. Strangelove. It is not unexpected that some parts of the film creakily rub against each other, but overall Badham and his team of screenwriters make it work, and it has withstood the test of time remarkably well. A crackling current of irreverent, sly humour permeates the movie, Badham playing up some stereotypes with sharp wit and a quick wink.

The film is in many ways groundbreaking. David as a teenager with no interest in school but a bedroom full of computer equipment and an intrinsic ability to understand technology and circumvent security is a pioneer hacker, a milestone to a future generational shift. The portrayal of the military as an organization both harnessing the awesome power of computer technology and simultaneously wrestling with its implications and vulnerabilities remains remarkably applicable decades later. WOPR as a self-learning computer points the way to the future world of artificial intelligence. The set design is also astonishingly inventive, the NORAD headquarters a dazzling example of imagination matching future realities.

WarGames has a few chase scenes and moments of staged thrills, but primarily works its way towards more cerebral aspirations. The tragicomic character of Dr. Falken becomes a central figure, a man disenchanted with life having dedicated his career to understanding war at a deeper level than humanly possible only to suffer a devastating personal tragedy. No longer interested in winners and losers and only waiting for the one outcome, Falken slips into a father figure role for David, and doesn't so much solve the crisis as point the way. And credit goes to Badham for having the courage to allow the hot war threat to be resolved prior to revealing the film's real heart, as WOPR finally grasps the meaning of learning when it comes to war.

Matthew Broderick is perfect in the role of David Lightman, his screen persona of the lighthearted street smart misfit suitably deployed both on the domestic front and in the war room. Ally Sheedy creates the perfect girlfriend-to-be, and with help from the mischievous script she quickly turns Jennifer into a real person: fun-loving, sweaty, roguish, initially dubious of David's surreptitious computer wizardry but ultimately a helpful resource.

WarGames is both cheeky and perceptive, a clever film with a deft touch and timeless message.

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Movie Review: Bad Boys (1983)

A juvenile penitentiary drama, Bad Boys is an uncompromising look at youth gone bad. A young Sean Penn supported by a dedicated cast ensures a compelling experience.

In Chicago, teenager Mick O'Brien (Penn) already has a long record of increasingly violent crimes. His girlfriend J.C. (Ally Sheedy) is sure that he will soon cross the line and end up incarcerated. Paco (Esai Morales) is another teenager getting involved in the drug trade, and his young Hispanic gang runs afoul of another local group of black thugs. A wild three-way street shoot-out at midnight ends with several dead bodies, and Paco's young brother is killed by Mick's out-of-control car as he tries to flee the police. Mick is arrested and sentenced to Rainford Juvenile Correctional Facility. Paco vows revenge.

At Rainford, counsellor Ramon Herrera (Reni Santoni) tries to help Mick change his ways. But Mick is preoccupied with survival within the jungle laws of the facility. He establishes a friendship of sorts with his cellmate Horowitz (Eric Gurry), an impish smartaleck who thrives by outsmarting the goons. The cellblock is run by a hierarchy of prisoners, and at their head are the brutal duo of Viking (Clancy Brown) and Tweety (Robert Lee Rush). As bad as things are for Mick, they are about to get a lot worse, with an enraged Paco targeting J.C. as part of his plan to avenge his brother's death.

Directed with notable fluidity by Rick Rosenthal, Bad Boys embraces many of the clichés expected in prison dramas, but then polishes them to a new shine. Helped enormously by the charismatic Penn and a supporting young cast fully immersed into their roles, Rosenthal does not glamourize the male-dominated violence that rules the detention centre. Rather, Bad Boys presents a jungle behind fences that serves to worsen the lives of kids already caught up in the jungle of the streets. Incarceration simply confirms that violence and cruelty are what is needed to survive.

This is not an easy film to watch. There are no intervals of humour or any form of relief, and the uncut version offers up 123 minutes of ever increasing agony. In the opening 30 minutes Rosenthal effectively sketches in the sorry lives of Mick and Paco, setting up the rest of the drama to unfold mainly within the grim walls of the juvenile detention centre. As Mick struggles to adapt to the new power dynamics now governing his life, the brief interludes back on the outside are just as disturbing: the decline of Paco's revenge-driven life accelerates, with J.C. on the receiving end of his rage.

Bad Boys is true to its title and set in the world of boys who may never have a chance to become men. There are a few adults in the film, but they are almost irrelevant. The mothers of Mick and Paco have already made all the key mistakes and are now ineffective or uninterested in their sons' lives. The men who run the detention centre talk tough but are next to useless. The animals run this zoo, and ironically it is often the zookeepers who are hiding in cages.

Rosenthal succeeds in giving many of the prisoners distinct personalities, with Horowitz emerging as a memorable nerd with a mean streak, while Viking is the sort of brute who will go only as far as his outsized muscles will take him, given the scarcity of any smarts. The detention centre is also filled with the expected assortment of rapists, black market traders, and victims.

Sean Penn, at around 22 years old when Bad Boys was filmed, gives the film its heart and soul. Mick is standing on the crossroads of where life can take him, and at its core this is the story of a young man getting a close-up view of the hell that awaits him down the path that he has so far chosen. Penn gives Mick a sorrowful humanity that strongly hints at the salvation that may lie within. Mick's one advantage is that he has a person who believes in him. J.C. (Ally Sheedy's impressive debut) plays the dual role of the girl who should know better than to hang out with the likes of Mick, while also being his only guiding light to a potentially better future.

Bad Boys aches for the youth left behind in society's sewers, and offers only the slightest hope that one out of many can crawl out of the filth.

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Movie Review: St. Elmo's Fire (1985)

A post-graduation coming-of-age drama and one of the essential Brat Pack movies, St. Elmo's Fire is crowded with stereotypes but nevertheless captures the angst of transitioning from the campus to the real world.

Seven friends in their early twenties are facing life soon after graduating from Georgetown University. Alec (Judd Nelson) and Leslie (Ally Sheedy) are living together, and while he is working as a political aid and ready to get married, she wants to wait. Kevin (Andrew McCarthy) is an aspiring writer and frequently hangs out with Alec and Leslie. Kevin's roommate is Kirby (Emilio Estevez), who has ambitions to study law but currently works as a waiter at St. Elmo's Bar, the group's favourite hang-out.

Billy (Rob Lowe) is the bad boy, a saxophone player with no career path, already estranged from his wife and infant child. Nevertheless, Wendy (Mare Winningham), a social worker, is deeply in love with him. Finally, Jules (Demi Moore) is a party girl and already sucked into a materialistic life she can't afford.

Alec can't help but cheat on Leslie as he waits for her to agree to get married, while Kevin harbours a secret crush on another member of the group. Kirby openly lusts after Dale (Andie MacDowell), a doctor who graduated a few years earlier, and starts stalking her. Billy and Wendy have a falling out, and she comes under pressure from her father (Martin Balsam) to marry a boring man and get into her family's greeting card franchise business. Jules seeks a short-cut to financial stability by starting an affair with her married boss. As the seven struggle to deal with the responsibilities of adulthood, their friendships are stretched to the breaking point.

The seven characters of St. Elmo's Fire are undoubtedly self-centred, over-dramatic, and generally quite irritating. Not one of them appears to have charted a logical emotional or career path, and their behaviour is more suitable to snotty high schoolers than university graduates. Allowing for the film's tilt towards the dysfunctionally exaggerated, St. Elmo's Fire does deliver some succulent drama. There is enough romance, lust, and irresponsibility going on to fill a few seasons' worth of guilty pleasure television, and director Joel Schumacher packages his movie with glossy wrapping paper and the nostalgia of early adulthood, when every little independent decision seemed like a monumental moment.

The script, by Schumacher and Carl Kurlander, creates characters that are vivid and memorable rather than unique. Each of the seven represents a broad societal pie slice, and there is no holding back on the amount of filling. Billy's rebel without a cause is all long haired, ear-ringed, unfocused imprudence, Wendy's goody two-shoes dresses like the Mayflower pilgrims, and Jules' slutty material girl lives life according to a Madonna soundtrack. Kirby's infatuation with Dale would qualify as a crime outside a movie script, but here is played for laughs, Kevin's dreamy-eyed long-haired aspiring writer drips idealistic romanticism, and Alec's out of control libido would condemn him as a sex addict. Leslie just barely qualifies as closest to rational, but even she quickly hops into a bed with a new lover at the first hint of a fight with Alec.

With the subtleties being pummeled, there is no need for textured acting, and no one ever accused the Brat Packers of excellence in the performing arts. Fulfilling the function of pretty faces representing their generation's excesses rather than intense dramatists, the seven actors dive into their strictly defined roles and embody them energetically, without ever moving beyond the obvious. Nelson, Lowe and Moore get to stretch the most, but even they are confined to stock displays of anger generated by hormones adjusting from the campus cocoon to the cold real world. Estevez, as a little boy lost in a horrible role, suffers the most.

The theme song St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) is quite outstanding. Written by David Foster and performed by John Parr, it is overused throughout the film, but does capture the energetic anguish of responsibility. In St. Elmo's Fire growing up is hard to do, but at least it looks and sounds good.

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Movie Review: The Breakfast Club (1985)

A coming-of-age high school dramatic comedy, The Breakfast Club is a sharply defined study of five memorable characters under stress. With the feel of an intimate play and career-defining performances from the young cast, director and writer John Hughes established his reputation as the voice of youth and mentor for a new generation of actors.

It's Saturday in suburban Chicago, and five Shermer High School students have to spend the entire day in detention as punishment for poor behaviour. Andy (Emilio Estevez) is the jock on the school wrestling team, Claire (Molly Ringwald) is the princess primarily interested in shopping and make up, Bender (Judd Nelson) is the psychological bully from a rough home, Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) is the nerd, and Allison (Ally Sheedy) is just weird. The five barely know each other. Under the supervision of assistant principal Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason), they are confined to the library for the day and ordered to write a 1,000 word essay each.  But with Bender as prime catalyst and mood disruptor, they do little writing and plenty of talking.

Initially the conversations are difficult and confrontational, and there is plenty of teasing, insulting and acrimony. But over the course of the day, they get to know each other, including uncovering family backgrounds and the reasons why they all ended up in detention. As they try to stay one step ahead of Vernon's authoritarianism, the green shoots of respect and understanding begin to appear within the group.

Written by Hughes and pulled together as an ensemble piece on essentially a single set, The Breakfast Club delves into the anxieties of teenagers, scraping away the hardened outside shells to find real people inside. As the external postures are stripped away, surprising commonalities are found, emotions are shared and previously unthinkable bonds are allowed to form under the umbrella of shared burdens.

The Breakfast Club is not without its creaky moments. The pacing is episodic, with the emotions and confrontations that are laid bare in one scene frequently all but forgotten in the next. And the ending, with sudden attractions materializing, appears rushed and predetermined for the sake of generating some warm kisses and unconvincing romantic sparks.  And assistant principal Vernon is just too deserving of any trouble that the kids manage to dish out.

But to the sounds of what became the generational anthem Don't You (Forget About Me) by the Simple Minds, the five young actors overcome the weaknesses in the script with outstanding performances, Judd Nelson leading the group. Bender is the troubled kid convinced despite all contrary evidence that he is tougher than his surroundings, and Nelson plays him with a cool eyed intensity that never wavers. He is merciless in picking on Claire, but is smart enough to stop just short of assaulting Vernon when fully afforded the opportunity. Nelson explores the coiled internal tension that only comes from an abusive household, as Bender's restlessness means that he cannot help but stir things up to spread the misery. Hughes explains Bender's attitude but never softens him up into a victim or a potential reformed kid.

Molly Ringwald, just 16 when filming The Breakfast Club, embodies every popular, rich, pretty girl more interested in friends, shopping and hanging out than reaching out or stretching academically. Ringwald brings a tough naiveté to Claire, a privileged girl fully enjoying the entitlement of coasting through high school and not having to deal with neither effort nor kids like Bender. On this Saturday Claire has to share time and space with a group of students that are typically beneath her, and Ringwald conveys vulnerability as an easy target but also a gradual awakening to new realities.

Allison is the most opaque character, and Ally Sheedy nails the dark kid who hovers like a ghostly presence at the back of the room. Allison is the slowest among the group to reveal herself, and she just gets weirder and more interesting the more she opens up, the pieces of her puzzle adding to the confusion rather than assembling into a whole.

Andy and Brian are the relatively straightforward personalities, Emilio Estevez projecting uneasy conflict as he walks the line between being trying to be cool and stepping in to protect Claire from Bender's browbeating. Anthony Michael Hall further develops his screen nerd persona, trying to fit in but always just a little bit clumsy in his social interactions. Andy and Brian find common ground when they both admit to the enormous pressure they feel from their parents to perform, Andy on the wrestling mat and Brian on all his exams.

In baring the souls of five disparate characters, The Breakfast Club shines as a unique examination of the teenager, and as an impossible to forget film experience.

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