Absolutely Fantastic

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The acting in this movie is really good.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Released in 1983, "Valley Girl" stars Nicolas Cage as a Hollywood dude named Randy who develops a relationship with a girl from the San Fernando Valley, Julie (Deborah Foreman). Their sub-cultural clash excites them but turns off some of their friends. Julie's three friends are played by Elizabeth Daily (Loryn), Heidi Holicker (Stacey) and Michelle Meyrink (Suzi). Lee Purcell plays Suzi's overheated stepmother while Cameron Dye plays Randy's best friend and Michael Bowen Randy's nemesis. Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp are on hand as Julie's parents.I don't usually list so many cast members, but I make an exception here because the characters are so notable. Believe it or not, Colleen Camp (Julie's mother) was the 'Indian' playmate in 1979's "Apocalypse Now."The term 'valley girl' is a socio-economic stereotype of a class of young women characterized by the colloquial dialect Valleyspeak and the corresponding vapid materialism. While it originally referred to the upper-middle class girls of the Los Angeles commuter towns of the San Fernando Valley in the early 80s, it later applied more broadly to any woman or girl—primarily in the USA and Canada—typified by ditziness, airheadedness, and greater interest in conspicuous consumption than spiritual or intellectual accomplishment.The movie was quickly thrown together in response to Frank Zappa's 1982 hit "Valley Girl," notorious for 14 year-old Moon Zappa's monologue, which popularized Valleyspeak like "Gag me with a spoon." Whatever the case, the film works well for what it is, a coming-of-age drama about Southern Californian youths. Stacey and Loryn stand out, as far as the girls go, particularly during the quasi-slumber party sequence. The music, however, is disappointing, particularly the so-called rock played at the Hollywood nightclub. It's more akin to new wave pop than anything genuinely rock/metal, which is strange given that this was the era that gave birth to kick-axx Hollywood hair bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, Dokken, Ratt, WASP and, shortly later, Guns 'n' Roses, not to mention a gazillion more. Other early-to-mid 80's teen movies had the same problem, like "Sixteen Candles" and "Pretty in Pink." If you want an excellent rockin' soundtrack check out 1982's "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and 1993's "Dazed and Confused." The film runs 99 minutes and was shot in the Los Angeles area with the mall scenes shot in Stockton.GRADE: B+

I watched this film after reading the plethora of positive IMDb reviews, touting it as Romeo and Juliette for the eighties and, while it does share with the bard's masterpiece the theme of forbidden teenage love, all similarities begin and end there. Filled with pointless story lines, characters on both sides of the divide who are sorely lacking in intellect, depth and purpose, and an ending that is pathetically lazy and neither intriguing nor romantic, this sorry excuse for a film brings absolutely nothing new to the table and fails miserably at even adding anything interesting, let alone insightful, to a familiar, seemingly straightforward topic. For a truly brilliant take on the complications of love among the young, rich and shallow, watch Amy Heckerling's Clueless, itself based much more faithfully on another work of classic literature, yet adapted to not only appeal to but actually shape the culture of its time. What a shameful insult to William Shakespeare it is, having his timeless work of poetic style and substance compared to this vacuous garbage.

No, this is not exactly Romeo and Juliet. The ending credits song of we're going to stop the world is most appropriate. Why? They should have stopped this picture.City guy Nicolas Cage falls for a girl from the valley, while on the beach and then meets her at a party.The film is filled with clichés. The girl's ex-boyfriend, looking to win her back, ready to use his fists to do so. The constant using of the word hot to describe the girls at the party.The girl's parents look like they're still trying to emulate the 1960s scene.It's basically a story of a tough guy meeting up with a girl from the suburbs, with her snobby friends. Two different worlds seem to keep them apart. Of course, Cage's friend comes up with a plan to win the girl back. Naturally, it's at the prom.We've had more than enough of these high school nonsensical films.

In the early 1980's the teen sex comedy was a prevalent genre, producing such "risque" works as Porky's (1982), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and The Last American Virgin (1982) - naming just a few of the many varying qualities of film. Despite Porky's being a more juvenile, and therefore lesser entry, it was the fifth top grossing film of 1982 (even though Fast Times is superior). Basically what these teen movies required was parties, booze and tits. And whilst Valley Girl has all of the ingredients, it is a far more mature film than the antics of a Screwballs, Spring Break, or Private School (all 1983), whose narratives involve the pursuit of sex, in what ever droll form that may take. I'm not suggesting these films are awful - they have their qualities - but the level of drama or realism of character is sorely missing.Julie (Deborah Foreman), as the title highlights, is from the rich valleys of California. At a house party, she meets Randy (Nicolas Cage), who is a "punk" from the wrong side of the tracks (in this world Hollywood is that place). They hang out for a time and fall for each other. However, the pressures of rich, privileged life gets in the way, as the conformity of Julie's friends, suggests that she is required to get back with her previous, Jock boyfriend Tommy (Michael Bowen). In the high schools of the valley, the need to stay within the confines of your "class" is essential to keep your reputation in tact, and Randy does not fit in to the generic role of preppy boy.The film does itself conform to romantic comedy tropes, but this does not matter. As with later teen comedies (Clueless (1995) or Mean Girls (2004) for example), Valley Girl highlights, to the mostly teen audience, that it is important not to conform to your peers ideals, fashions and product consumption. Julie's parents are seen by her as lame of course (it's a teenage thing), but Randy sees differently, as they are hippies of the Woodstock age, running a pseudo-fashionable health food shop, their own non-conformist attitude evident, but never pushed onto the daughter. It's a charming little film, that treats its teenage characters with maturity, and they are never simple box-tickers like so many of these comedies of vacuous, shallow, and stereotypical consumer teenagers.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com