Unfunny movie not worth the price of a ticket
Added 8/29/2009
This was the bomb movie of 1991. It's about a guy who gets a job in a Target, and is promoted to being the night crew assistant manager, and about a girl who decides to get herself locked inside the store after it closes. This is supposed to be a classic John Hughes movie, but it falls flat as it's either an old plot, or the actors/actresses weren't right for the movie. It's boy meets girl, and they spend the night trying to get acquainted with each other, hoping their hormones will be their guides. Let's face it this was even worse than "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and I think that was the ultimate bomb, so this is how bad I feel about this. I feel that they should've just shelved this, and left it there.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
CULT CLASSIC REVISITED: A FILM STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
Added 8/27/2008
FIRST OF ALL, AMAZON IS GREAT! THIS IS MY FIRST REVIEW AND IM ACTUALLY INCREDIBLY SURPRISED BY THE AMOUNT OF INSIGHT THIS SIMPLE FILM HAS GARNERED. OVERALL, IT'S WORTH A LITTLE TIME INVESTMENT TO WRITE ABOUT. I DON'T THINK IT'S MEANT TO BE MUCH MORE THAN FUN, LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT. BUT AFTER THOUSANDS OF FILMS LATER, IT STILL REMAINS AMONG MY PERSONAL FAVORITES.THE MORE I APPLY WHAT I'VE LEARNED SINCE AND ASIDE FROM THE OBVIOUS BRAND/CONSUMERISM/PRODUCT PLACEMENT, IT ECHOES SIMPLE CONCEPTS LIKE A VIRTUAL ALLEGORY TO ADAM AND EVE UNTIL ALONG COMES THE BUMBLING HAPHAZARD FORCES THAT TEAR IT APART, THE IDEA THAT IN THE END THE PARENTS ACTUALLY DO CARE ABOUT THEIR CHILDREN IN THEIR OWN WAY, AND THE STRATEGY USED IN MOST MARILYN MONROE FILMS, TO PLACE AN EVEN MORE MANIC OR COMIC CHARACTER NEXT TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN MAKES HER THAT MORE A FANTASY IS EVIDENT. HOWEVER, CONNELLY MIGHT'VE MIMICKED CONVENTIONAL ADULT MATURITY BUT SHE DOES HOLD HER OWN INTELLECTUALLY AND UNFAIRLY REDUCED TO BEING JUST A TOKEN.AS IN BREAKFAST CLUB, HUGHES HAS A WAY OF BRIDGING SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS AND BE PLAYFUL ABOUT OUR FEARS, DESIRES, AND DISPOSITIONS. WHILE SETTING IT TO A CATCHY MUSICAL SCORE AND POTENTIAL FOR MEANING:
GRANTED,UPON SEEING ITS THEATRICAL RELEASE TO PRETENDING TO FILM IT IN THRU MY VHS CAMCORDER PLAYBACK EYEPIECE, THEN FINALLY REVISITING IT ON DVD LAST WEEK, I TOO WAS ENAMORED BY 21 YR OLD CONNELLY (WHOSE CINEMATIC CHARACTER HAUNTED ME SINCE THAT SLEEPLESS NIGHT).HOWEVER, BEYOND BEING THE "TARGET" AUDIENCE AND BECOMING MY FILLMMAKING MUSE AND IDEAL IMAGE FOR THE NEXT DECADE RIVALED PRIOR BY OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN IN "GREASE",LINDA CARTER AS WONDERWOMAN, JESSICA RABBITT, KELLY PRESTON IN "TWINS", AND LATER CAMERON DIAZ IN "THE MASK", SALMA HAYEK, "DUSK TILL DAWN", OR ALBA'S AND BECKINSALE'S KICKBUTT SCREEN PERSONAS. ANYHOW, GETTING PAST THE BLINDING AESTHETIC AND PHYSICAL BEAUTY AND WIT OF THE RESPECTIVE LEAD CHARACTERS, I OFFER THE FIRST OF THE FOLLOWING INSIGHT ABOUT THIS PICTURE:
IRONICALLY, HUGHES FILMS STARRING MOLLY RINGWALD WERE MORE CRITICALLY AND FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL WHERE RINGWALD'S UNCONVENTIONAL LOOKS WERE CONSIDERED LESS MARKETABLE. FRANK WHALEY SAYS HE PLAYS JIM DODGE WITH SOMEONE DESTINED FOR GREATNESS. THE SELECTION OF TARGET BRAND:VISUALLY SYMBOLIZES MANY THINGS. THE IDEA THAT CHARACTERS ARE TRAPPED OR STUCK AT HOME, IN THE STORE, AND THE PAIRING OR EXPRESSION OF THEIR LOVE TO SHARE, ETC.
THERE'S EVEN A SUBTLE AMBIVILENCE AS TO THE MOTIVES OF THE CHARACTERS TORN BETWEEN CHOICES, BUT ULTIMATELY THEY YEARN TO BE FREE OF THIS SMALL TOWN OR THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES AND FIND THAT ANSWER IN EACH OTHER. THERE ARE EVEN WAYS TO INCORPORATE IT AS CONTINUATIONS, PARALLELS, OR EXTENSIONS TO THE LIGHTER SIDE OF JOHN HUGHES WORK AND OF HIMSELF. I CAN GO ON AND ON AND IT MORE THAN ALLOWS CREATIVE INTERPRETATION, EMPOWERMENT, AND ROMANCE.
I COULD DECONSTRUCT IT ALL DAY, BUT INSTEAD I'LL LEAVE YOU WITH DIALOGUE FROM THE FILM THAT SPEAKS TO IT'S ESSENCE, "THE SAME REASON YOU WANT TO STAY AT HOME, IS THE SAME REASON THAT I CAN'T LEAVE MY FATHER.." JOSIE MCCLELLAN SUGGESTS, "WHAT'S THAT?" ASKS JIM. "I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE.".SHE TELEGRAPHES IN ALL HER EMOTIONAL NAKEDNESS AND THE GENTLE ALLURE OF HER COUNTENANCE.WITH A SILENT SUBTEXT BEING. WE DON'T HAVE TO BE ALONE, WE CAN ESCAPE AWAY TOGETHER AND START NEW LIVES..SO BASIC YET SO PROFOUND AN OBSERVATION. ASIDE FROM MY PRAISE FOR HOW THE THEME AND CREATIVITY FITS TOGETHER, ITS AS IF THE TITLE ITSELF REFERS TO THE POTENTIAL IN STORE FOR THE "FUTURE CAREERS" OF THE TWO LEADS AND THE FEATURE FILM DEBUT OF THE DIRECTOR ALL COURTESY OF MR.HUGHES WHO HIMSELF SEEMS TO BE AN ENIGMA TO THE LIKES OF SALINGER AND ANOTHER FAMOUS HUGHES.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Career Opportunities
Added 6/22/2008
Esse filme é DEZ!!! Adoro esse filme!!!
Muito bom, bem divertido e com a lindíssima Jennifer Connelly. Se você quer diversão, esse filme te garante bons momentos do início ao fim. É o típico filme para se ver a dois ou num dia chuvoso... É SHOW DE BOLA!!!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Funny!!!!!
Added 12/26/2007
This movie is great. It makes me wish I got locked in a store overnight-Hee-Hee! Not really, Its been out a while and some people missed it. Very Funny- A must see!!! A.W.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Career Opportunities
Added 9/10/2007
Great movie. Frank Whaley's funny. Dermot Mulroney hot in a weird way.
Love the soundtrack.
Watched it years ago. Kept hiring it out at the video store.
Looked to buy it for years. Finally found it for sale.
Worth the money.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Fairly Entertaining
Added 8/9/2009
I received this movie by mistake from Netflix, and decided to watch it rather than send it back, since I vaguely remembered liking it when I first watched it many years ago, after it was first released. I found that the movie didn't have the same impact on me as when I first watched it, probably for the obvious reason that this was my second viewing, but I still enjoyed it.
The action takes place in a small, sleepy, hot town in the southern US. A smoldering sexual tension is established quickly in the movie and persists to the last moment. The female side of this equation comes from two women who are seductively easy on the eyes, yet also opposites in the sense that one of them embodies virginal innocence while the other embodies a raw calculating sluttiness. On the male side, casting Don Johnson works perfectly, given his natural brand of virile and confident masculinity. His character can be criminally devious and manipulative, tough enough to fearlessly brawl (and win), and the ladies from all walks of life are apparently drawn to him. Yet one also glimpses that there's some decency in him wanting to prevail, and the resulting inner tension is especially revealed by his simultaneous attraction to both women and how he tries to resolve that situation.
This movie is no masterpiece, and has no intellectual pretensions, but I still found it entertaining. Moreover, the scenery and some of the characters are surreal in a way that you might find interesting and memorable. The bottom line is that I don't regret having spent a couple of hours watching this movie.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Steamy film noir
Added 7/3/2009
The hot shot (not to be confused with the hot spot, which is located...well, on the person of Dolly Harshaw, as you'll see) is Harry Madox (Don Johnson) who has just arrived in Podunk, Texas. What he's hot about is selling used cars and bedding floosies. He scans the small town scene to see what's available. He's a hunk with a gift of the macho and an ability to move clunkers off the lot. What he finds is the used car lot of George Harshaw (Jerry Hardin) in need of a salesman. George has a bad heart and a young and sexy wife, the aforementioned Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen, who once played in a movie called "Zombie High" or "The High School that Ate My Brain"--you gotta love either title). She's a woman who always gets what she wants, and once she sets her rapacious eyes on Harry, Harry is what she wants.
Harry has other plans however. There's this bank in town that he just happens into as there's a fire going down the street. The bank is wide open and there's nobody there but this blind old black guy and the bank manager. Seems that the surveillance system isn't working and what's more all the tellers are off fighting the fire because they all belong to the volunteer fire department. This gives Harry ideas.
One more complication. Doing the books for George is Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly at 19) looking about as tasty as pie a la mode and as ripe as a peach about to fall off the tree. Harry soon discovers that she is as sweet as Tupelo honey and nearly as innocent as a small town girl can be with one strange problem. It seems that a country degenerate named Frank Sutton (William Sadler) has got some kind of hold on her.
So what we have here is a setting for film noir circa 1990 done up in color with a lot of upper body and tail end nudity and plenty of steamy sex. Will Harry pull off the bank job and retire to the Caribbean? Or will he put on George's shoes and service the very serviceable Mrs. H? Or will he succumb to the charms of Gloria? Or will he end up afoul of the local law or meet foul play at the hands of Frank Sutton? Stay tuned. I know I did even though this is not exactly a masterpiece.
Top three reasons to see this diversion are:
(1) Virginia Madsen, who is as hot as the barrel of an AK-47 as it unloads with a mind devious enough to delight the devil himself.
(2) Jennifer Connelly, who is pretty enough to awaken the libido of the dead.
(3) The nice twist at the end in which we learn that life has a certain perverse logic to it, proving that the hero may not get what he wants, but hey, things could be worse.
I guess I should also mention the direction of Dennis Hopper who has garnered over 200 film credits in a career going back to the fifties. Can you believe he played in the classic teen angst film Rebel Without a Cause from 1955? Here he just panders shamelessly to the prurient interest of the audience while moving the action along at a spritely pace.
One problem for today's sophisticated viewer: beware of being overcome with a constant stream of cigarette smoke. I mean, did the tobacco industry front the cash for this?
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
A hot spot
Added 11/28/2008
The special slow pace is a remarkable feature of this movie, generating an intense suspence which actually leads to some pretty dramatic events, not suitable for every one's taste.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
