It seems that the 80s have returned to Hollywood. From Hot Tub Time Machine to this movie, the retro style of the 1980s seems to be the in-thing. In fact, when I started screening the movie, I thought they were trying to copy Hot Tub Time Machine, but in fact, this movie was made long before it. This movie was filmed in 2007 and took four years to get released.
The digital transfer to Blu-Ray was amazing for reliving the amalgam of 1980s music that plays throughout the film. Unfortunately, the video quality was enough that you could see the grain from the original film which was, at times, distracting.
The film, set in 1998, revolves around Matt Franklin (played by Topher Grace "That 70s Show"), a recent MIT grad who is working at a Suncoast Video while deciding what to do with his life. One day, his high school crush walks in (played by Teresa Palmer in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"), and he decides to try and talk to her. The rest of the movie is what happens after that. At the same time the movie tries to have subplots revolving around Matt's friend Barry and his twin sister Wendy.
The movie has a cute premise with lots of potential, starts strong, and sputters throughout with a strong ending, but the ending isn't enough to bring the rest of the movie with it. The two other subplots take time away from the main premise of the movie and distract you with what seems to be unnecessary issues. Now if this movie was supposed to be a veiled remake of The Breakfast Club, it could have succeeded with a few of the deleted scenes being restored and closure on the subplots - the latter of which was completely missing. I'd recommend that you watch the deleted scenes and put them in perspective; you'll probably agree with me on that.
The best special feature on the disc is the "Take Me Home Tonight" music video, which is not a music video for the song "Take Me Home Tonight", which doesn't even appear in the movie. In fact, the only time you'll hear it on the disc is while you are sitting on the menu. The music video was done as a promo for the film, with the song "Don't You Want Me" performed by Atomic Tom. At the same time, the stars of the movie reenact about 5 seconds of around 40 different 80s movies using what appears to be common household objects, such as vacuum cleaners as the proton packs from Ghostbusters. The best one, however, is their recreation of The Terminator, as Michael Biehn (who plays Matt's father in the film) plays, well, himself, in the 80s reenactment.
If you are into 1980s nostalgia, then perhaps you should give this movie a cursory viewing, if only to relive the music alone.
Grade: C
