Year:
1987
Studio:
Paramount Pictures
Feature: 4/5
Extras:
0/5
John Hughes has
written a lot of good screenplays, several dealing with teenage life.
Looking at his writing credits we see such classics Sixteen Candles,
The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day
Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful. All six written and made into movies
in a period of about four years -- well, probably written quite a bit
before then since screenplays can take a while to sell.
Some Kind of Wonderful being the last of the group is also my favorite.
At its heart it's a romantic drama which I like. I've always said I
love romantic comedies, but really it's more romantic-whatever. Full
romance is a bit much and sappy, but as a modifier romance is really
appealing.
This is the story of Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) who is in his final
year of high school. His dad (John Ashton) is pressuring him to choose
a good college and get a good solid degree and be first person in his
family to do so. Meanwhile Keith is more of an artistic sort of guy
which his father thinks is nice but won't earn any money.
Keith is one of those boys whose never been with the A-list crowd. But
he lusts after an A-list girl, Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson) -- who
incidentally has a cool theme song in the movie. Amanda is from the
same lower-middle class suburban background as Keith and actually lives
in the same are. But she's beautiful, has A-list girlfriends and an
A-list boyfriend in Hardy Jenns (Carig Sheffer).
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Keith has no shot at Amanda and his
best friend Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson) never hesitates to tell him
that. Watts is a sort of punk-rocker-grrl tomboy who secretly has a
crush on Keith. She may not realize it fully until Keith sees his
chance and asks Amanda out on a date, which due to she just seeing
Hardy kiss another girl she accepts.
It's an awkward situation because Amanda doesn't really want to go out
with Keith but is too nice to blow him off. And Keith is not really
that bad a guy as she realizes when her friends pressure her to blow
him off. Meanwhile Keith is going to go all-out on this date to make it
a special night. A night that he knows will end with violence when they
visit Hardy's party. What will happen with this love triangle? Watch
the movie and find out.
I love this movie. It's a great story with a great romance and a very
80's look. The DVD has no extras which is unfortunate. I'd really have
liked a commentary track to give the story perspective. But it was
still good to watch since this was the first time I've watched it
outside broadcast television, so there were lots of little bits I
hadn't seen before and the whole first part of the movie I didn't
remember. It's a great movie and well recommended.
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