Released: June 28th, 1985
Starring: Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham
Writer/Director: Joel Schumacher and Carl Kurlander/Joel Schmacher
Description: A Group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood. Their main problem is that they're all self-centered and obnoxious.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
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Every generation has an obsession with a decade before it, and reintroduce clothes and music into current styles. Whether it be the leather jackets of the 50s, or tie-dye shirts from the 60s, there's a certain curiosity of how things were before they were born. My obsession is the 80s, and how bat-shit crazy that decade appears from afar.
Which brings us to "St. Elmo's Fire" and one of the decades forgotten gems. Released during the Brat-Pack era of "Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles", it features every member except for Molly Ringwald, and a more adult story than those previous mentioned movies. It follows a group of friends who have graduated college, and are now navigating the real world. They each represent a "type" of early-20s Yuppies in the 80s.
Demi Moore is the one who is living above her means, Emilio Estevez is the one who doesn't know exactly what he wants to do, Andrew McCarthy is a lonely, struggling journalist, Rob Lowe is the one who desperately misses college and can't adjust, Mare Winningham is the one who is the most put together but also is the most naive, Judd Nelson is the overachieving one who works in politics and likes to run around behind his girlfriend back, and Ally Sheedy is the blissfully in love young professional who doesn't know her boyfriend is running around on her. And despite the cookie cutter characters, the actors and the writer do as good job making them as 3D as possible, especially with an ensemble cast.
Despite this movie being made almost 30 years ago, there is a part of these character that we all relate to today. I find myself connecting to parts of Kevin (McCarthy), Billy (Lowe) and Jules (Moore) stories, and that is something special for a movie to do that to someone so far removed from the time period. This does not mean that the entire movie was great and close to the quality of a John Hughes movie. While I saw more parts of myself in this film than in, say, "Breakfast Club", I don't have the fond memories of this movie.
There are multiple plot holes and impossible storylines that have really uneven conclusions. Most glaring being Kirby's (Estevez) stalking of Dale (McDowell). He somehow figures out her schedule and at one point, follows her around in the rain. And at no point does she call the cops, even after he tracks her down to her mountain cabin -- which he discovered by threatening to kill her roommate. Despite his behavior, we are meant to see him as the sane, likeable male of the group, which I don't think it was thought out well.
The performances in the movie range from pretty good to dreadful. Not surprisingly, Lowe and Moore give the most dynamic performances, and Sheedy and Estevez are completely miscast. Outside of looking pretty, I don't know much about Sheedy's character; in both personality and story. She's drooled over by two best friends, in one of the most poorly executed triangles, but I don't understand why they want her. This arc would work best in a television series because over time the audience would get to know why each guy loves her, and choose a side. The idea of the story was good, but they put the three worst actors in the film in it, so it was painful to watch.
If you saw this movie when it was released, it was obvious who was going to have the best career. The most memorable characters in this film were Jules and Billy, and it was not even close. Lowe and Moore did the best job of making their characters feel real. The scene in her jeep when they are drunk and she was going to confide in him but he doesn't listen was powerful, and the payoff at the end when he stops her from killing herself during the movie's climax is great plotting.
"St. Elmo's Fire" is a good movie to compare with the dominate John Hughes films of the decade. It is the best non-Hughes movie of the Brat-Pack era. The plot is not offensive, but it's not anything special either. It tries to say something, but it's voice falls flat. It is a mess of convoluted, intersecting storylines that usual involve randomly interjecting a line to reminds us that they are all friends. It's a movie that could be much better as a TV show.
Rating: 5.5/10 -- Fun movie, which does a great job of using its score to enhance the scenes. Would have benefited from better casting in the supporting roles, but the standout performances by Lowe and Moore are the heart of the movie.
Which brings us to "St. Elmo's Fire" and one of the decades forgotten gems. Released during the Brat-Pack era of "Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles", it features every member except for Molly Ringwald, and a more adult story than those previous mentioned movies. It follows a group of friends who have graduated college, and are now navigating the real world. They each represent a "type" of early-20s Yuppies in the 80s.
Demi Moore is the one who is living above her means, Emilio Estevez is the one who doesn't know exactly what he wants to do, Andrew McCarthy is a lonely, struggling journalist, Rob Lowe is the one who desperately misses college and can't adjust, Mare Winningham is the one who is the most put together but also is the most naive, Judd Nelson is the overachieving one who works in politics and likes to run around behind his girlfriend back, and Ally Sheedy is the blissfully in love young professional who doesn't know her boyfriend is running around on her. And despite the cookie cutter characters, the actors and the writer do as good job making them as 3D as possible, especially with an ensemble cast.
Despite this movie being made almost 30 years ago, there is a part of these character that we all relate to today. I find myself connecting to parts of Kevin (McCarthy), Billy (Lowe) and Jules (Moore) stories, and that is something special for a movie to do that to someone so far removed from the time period. This does not mean that the entire movie was great and close to the quality of a John Hughes movie. While I saw more parts of myself in this film than in, say, "Breakfast Club", I don't have the fond memories of this movie.
There are multiple plot holes and impossible storylines that have really uneven conclusions. Most glaring being Kirby's (Estevez) stalking of Dale (McDowell). He somehow figures out her schedule and at one point, follows her around in the rain. And at no point does she call the cops, even after he tracks her down to her mountain cabin -- which he discovered by threatening to kill her roommate. Despite his behavior, we are meant to see him as the sane, likeable male of the group, which I don't think it was thought out well.
The performances in the movie range from pretty good to dreadful. Not surprisingly, Lowe and Moore give the most dynamic performances, and Sheedy and Estevez are completely miscast. Outside of looking pretty, I don't know much about Sheedy's character; in both personality and story. She's drooled over by two best friends, in one of the most poorly executed triangles, but I don't understand why they want her. This arc would work best in a television series because over time the audience would get to know why each guy loves her, and choose a side. The idea of the story was good, but they put the three worst actors in the film in it, so it was painful to watch.
If you saw this movie when it was released, it was obvious who was going to have the best career. The most memorable characters in this film were Jules and Billy, and it was not even close. Lowe and Moore did the best job of making their characters feel real. The scene in her jeep when they are drunk and she was going to confide in him but he doesn't listen was powerful, and the payoff at the end when he stops her from killing herself during the movie's climax is great plotting.
"St. Elmo's Fire" is a good movie to compare with the dominate John Hughes films of the decade. It is the best non-Hughes movie of the Brat-Pack era. The plot is not offensive, but it's not anything special either. It tries to say something, but it's voice falls flat. It is a mess of convoluted, intersecting storylines that usual involve randomly interjecting a line to reminds us that they are all friends. It's a movie that could be much better as a TV show.
Rating: 5.5/10 -- Fun movie, which does a great job of using its score to enhance the scenes. Would have benefited from better casting in the supporting roles, but the standout performances by Lowe and Moore are the heart of the movie.
