St. Elmo's Fire [Blu-ray]

 

 

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I love this movie for nostalgic reasons, I saw it back in '87 when I was twelve, but now as an adult, I have to give it a reality check.

How is it that these 22 year olds who were fresh out of college had nicer apartments than most of us ever will? It was a bit much, even in the age of excess. I also can't believe that a woman as virginal and innocent as Wendy would be caught dead with Bad Boy Billy and the other hipsters (and vice versa). And why was Dale Biberman so calm when Kirby was practically stalking her? Wait--maybe that term hadn't been invented yet, but you get the picture. And I can't get over Leslie walking arm in arm with Kevin and Alec at the end of the movie, as if this love triangle never existed (not to mention Alec's infidelities).

Other than those things, the movie is good for nostalgic value. I still feel like a seventh grader as I drool over Andrew McCarthy everytime I see this movie. You won't discover the meaning of life from this movie, but you will be entertained for an hour and a half, or so.

Seven recent college graduates begin the transition to adult life in Washington, D.C. They face job challenges and the ups and downs of romance while remaining best friends and partying at St. Elmo's Bar.

This 1985 movie starred many members of the infamous "Brat Pack" such as Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, and Demi Moore. They are all well-cast as preppies struggling with independence, careening wildly in search of love and stable careers. Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, and Mare Winningham also give pleasing performances. Each one has a distinct personality and each has their turn in the spotlight as the story rotates quickly between them.

While the movie was once considered very chic and hip, it's now relatively sanitized compared to the debauchery so common on the screen today. It's also common now to see similar best-friends-forever plotlines, but this was the granddaddy of them all and it's still pretty good. A nice story, sometimes a bit saccharine, but entertaining and it's fun to see so many familiar faces when they were very young.

Like most others who grew up on the Brat Pack flicks, I couldn't wait for the next one. I loved the earlier flicks that had not only great writing and warm stories to tell, but characters you cared about and situations that we could ALL relate to, at least to some point. Pick your flick - 16 Candles, Breakfast Club - they had at least SOMETHING everyone could relate to. Not "St. Elmos's Fire." Talk about taking a red hot cast of actors and doing absolutely nothing with them. This movie wasted so much talent and threw unlikeable, pretentious morons at us with some of the corniest dialogue I have ever seen. There is not ONE likeable character in this movie. Rob Lowe's character is a moron - not in the directionless sense the movie tries to protray him sympathetically, but in everything he does throughout the film, particularly his acting. I actually laughed at the night club scene when Lowe and his band perform. His "sizzlin" sax performance with his band is one of the most contrived, directionless displays of music in movie history - ranks right up there with the final play scene in Travolta's pathetic sequal to "Saturday Night Fever" ("Staying Alive"). Even the extras in that bar scene are terrible actors who not only have no clue how to dance or even react to that "song" (I guess it was a song), but the scene's climax where Lowe and his wife embrace passionately to the adoring masses is contrived, soap opera worthy material. DeMI Moore... don't get me started on her character. And Ally Sheedy (a fave of mine up till this flick), Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy and all the rest of these stooges' over act so much they make Carrot Top seem like Orson Welles or Marlon Brando. Even the bit role players are hammy and cliched - the artistic gay neighbor of Moore's, the wealthy Japanese business man who for some reason trusts just out of college puds with his expensive pad. And the final scene when the gang all seems to come to grips with the reality of their situations while sending Lowe off is as corny as one of the epilogues from the "Charlies Angels" TV show in the 70s. It's sad when recent movies about the 80s seem more authentic than one like this that was made IN the 80s. The only thing I credit this movie with is instilling in me an insatiable appetite for Andie Mc Dowell, who I absolutely love to this day and give most of her movies at least a peak (though a lot of those come up short as well). I suppose I should a acknowledge the hypnotic theme song from the Soundtrack, which I'll admit is appealing, if only for the real life memories of the 80s it brings back. This movie was a lame attempt at using the Brat Pack we grew up with and trying to parallel their lives with where their legions of the fans who grew up loving them were now with their own lives. And in that it fails miserably. This movie is self indulgent and over the top, full of obtrusive characters. One thing I will admit - this is one of those movies that is so bad, you can't help but watch in when it comes on. Again, I thinks it's the way the theme song hooks you. Frankly, this movie sucks.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Brat Pack, here we come
The Real World of cinema I call this. Definitely influential to MTV starting that series. Seven best friends recently graduate from Georgetown Univ. Read more

Published on July 12 2004 by N. Damiano

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring Brat Pack Feature
1985's St. Elmo's Fire is the film that created the Brat Pack. The film is about yuppie angst instead of the usual teen angst depicted in like kind films of the era. Read more

Published on July 9 2004 by Thomas Magnum

2.0 out of 5 stars Not one likeable character!
All right, let's take 'em one by one:

Emilio Estevez as Kirby: Obsessed with and stalking an older woman, who finally is forced to sic her fiance on his pathetic punk... Read more

Published on July 8 2004 by Lulu

4.0 out of 5 stars The best of the Brat Packs.
This is definately the best of the brat pack films. It has more sophistication and dramatic acting. You dig deeper into the characters, and you feel for them more. Read more

Published on May 31 2004 by Ryne Williams

4.0 out of 5 stars Everyone knows someone like these guys and gals

You know, a drama queen who always has to be the center of attention; the screwup who really means well; the niave do-gooder and the seemingly 'it' couple. Read more

Published on April 24 2004 by K. Stuckey

1.0 out of 5 stars No fire...It left me cold
Just another movie about some young adults facing their usual problems with relationships, college life and future choices. Read more

Published on Jan 20 2004 by gonn1000

4.0 out of 5 stars Brat Packers abound!
Three of the five Brat Packers featured in "The Breakfast Club" as people who never talk to each other at school (Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Emilio Estevez) star here... Read more

Published on Nov 21 2003 by Saima Huq

4.0 out of 5 stars Still on Fire all this time later
I still recall the first time I saw this movie. I sat down in a friend's living room and two hours later, I was blinking in wonder. Read more

Published on Nov 14 2003 by Alicia Walker

4.0 out of 5 stars Not As Good As The Breakfast Club...but
This was a more serious brat pack film. That's probably the reason it didn't have the same " feel " as the other brat pack movies. Read more

Published on Oct 5 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars another 80's flick!
This movie about friends after college is yet another of those 80's flicks that very addicting! I like how these seven friends, all different but linked in friendship help each... Read more

Published on July 31 2003 by pdxbeautiful

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