You won't be disappointed!

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Life lessons are not always the most prevalent in coming of age genre films. Sometimes they're real obvious, while others are more obscure and look to have their viewers find the deeper meaning themselves. It's also hard to say how significant a coming of age film can be when it is a Rated R comedy. Some have worked brilliantly - The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) is one. This on the other hand is a strange mix of elements that plays its cards right in some respects, while at other moments it's questionable to what the crew was thinking here. This is the story of Johnny Walker (Anthony Michael Hall), a high school athlete who has quite a fan club. After winning the last football game of the season (by cheating no less), Walker is approached by recruiter upon recruiter to play for their college team.There are also other people who want Johnny to go with their opinion. Wayne Hisler (Paul Gleason), the high school coach wants him to attend a college of his choice so he can acquire special benefits and he'll do anything to make sure it happens. Johnny's mom and grandpa want him to get an education more than a sports scholarship and his girlfriend Georgia (Uma Thurman) wants him to attend State with her. So many opinions, which one will he choose?! Well, Johnny ends up attending mostly all of their open houses. This ends up having him being bribed with things that seem almost unrealistic or things that have nothing to do with getting an education or playing football. Of course fame grants several of these things but at a high school level? The kid and his team didn't even play fairly winning the last game so how does that even qualify? Are the refs that blind?Plus, what's even more shocking is to how this production was able to gather now famous actors when they were starting off and the chemistry feels almost nonexistent. And, the screenplay was completed by three writers, all of which worked on Revenge of the Nerds (1984). How is that barely any charm are given to these characters? There are only a couple of moments that Johnny goes through that actually develop him as a character. Other than that he's placed in silly events that should trigger his conscience saying he shouldn't be there. The best parts of the film are when Johnny's family is on screen. Somehow they seem to have the best lines and character arcs. My favorite family member was the grandfather (George Hall). Such a nice old man.Uma Thurman's character has a very typical character arc, loves her boyfriend - finds him as a jerk briefly - then resorts back to him. Possibly the strangest of all is Robert Downey Jr.'s character. Either he tries too hard to be funny or his jokes don't make any sense. It's baffling, I guess Downey Jr. didn't realize how much funnier he is when he says his lines deadpan than actually trying to be comical. Fans might also get a kick out of actor Marshal Bell's performance as Uma Thurman's dad, also the chief of police. He has some funny one liners at times too. All right enough of the characters. Jay Ferguson's music to the film is appropriately set but doesn't have anything to remember about it. Was it a comedy that had laughs galore? Not so much. Does it feel like a coming of age movie? Not really.The cast contains famous actors of today in their youth and has a moral somewhere in its story but its delivery is overshadowed by hit and miss comedy. Much of the events that take place feel impossible too, decreasing its believability.

You'd think a movie with that kind of title (taken from a song) would be a silly, over-the-top movie. Well, it is, but not in a good way. Is Johnny a troublemaker, or just a troubled kid? The movie reunites Anthony Michael Hall with his "Breakfast Club" co-star Paul Gleason, in case you never figured that out. The characters have no chemistry and there's no real story. It doesn't make you laugh, only chuckle. And it's certainly not even trying to be a good movie, much less a funny one. If there is any believable scene, it's towards the end of the movie, where everybody starts fighting after Johnny's announcement. What is the point of this assembly, anyway? From what I could tell throughout the movie, it didn't seem Hall ever decided on one. Talk about a cheat!** out of ****

Anthony Michael Hall who bears an astonishing resemblance to a late friend of mine plays All American quarterback Johnny Walker who every college team in America is after. The fact that Hall is not exactly built like a football player at this stage of his career doesn't prevent one from enjoying this Brat Pack film which does actually have some serious things to say about college athletic recruiting.Hall plays a rather likable young kid who has the world by the short hairs of the scrotum with every college bidding for his services. Some of them go to some rather extravagant lengths as a school in Texas and California wine and dine him with just about everything any 18 year old could want in this world.Brat Pack films have a special place in the career of actor Paul Gleason who made a career of playing authority figures that Brat Pack kids would flout with impunity. No exception here in Johnny Be Good. Gleason plays Hall's high school coach and he's also in on the payola if there's any to be had. Gleason's one saving grace is that he has a lovely daughter Jennifer Tilly who is really in love with Hall. She has to get the sincerity from her mother's side.And there's a special part in her for Uma Thurman, wife of the head of Texas boosters who picks out a special boy in every class for her favorite. Talk about a cougar stalking prey.Even Howard Cossell makes an appearance here, lending some sports authenticity to the film. Cossell playing himself as no one else ever could is doing some investigative journalism into the whole recruiting mania surrounding Hall.Johnny Be Good is a likable Brat Pack comedy, as likable as its star. And this film is dedicated to Steven 'Kip' Loney who looked and sounded just like Anthony Michael Hall and who unfortunately died way too young. Kip this one's for you.

Its a little slapstick, but very good. Not perfect acting, but great movie. I have seen the Theater version PG-13, and the Video Rated R version. The theater one is just a cut scenes of the rated R version. It is about a high school quarterback that is very popular, and excellent at playing football in high school. He gets swamped of college recruiters trying to recruit him to play for them. It only shows him going to two colleges though.While he is ditching his high school coach of visiting the colleges that the coach wants to be hired on as a coach for that college, Johnny is visiting other colleges. Johnny finds out that the coach made a deal with a college without his knowledge, and Johnny gets back at him. I say people that don't like this are either younger than the time that it was release or old, and hate football movies. Either way why did you rent or buy it then if you don't like those kind of movies? It is your fault, not anyone else.I say watch this movie, but if your in those categories above said, then look elsewhere.