Gregory's Girl

His football couch approaches him and tells him that they need new blood in the team, and hints of the idea of kicking him off the team. Gregory, who is in the midst of puberty, is now gangly and can't play the sport as well as before, is nervous about his potential ousting of the team. At the football trials, in walks in their latest team member, Dorothy (Dee Hepburn). What starts with fear and frustration about possibly being bumped from the football team, turns into love at first sight.

This movie depicts secondary school life where teenagers are awkward, and unsure of themselves in most aspects of their lives. We see glimpses of Gregory's fellow schoolmates as they too try to catch girls' attentions, by trying to impress them with their vast intelligence, "it's a well-known fact that when you sneeze, it comes out of your nose at 100 miles an hour...". The movie is humorous and light-hearted as it shows us how Gregory tries to catch the girl of his dreams, Dorothy, the one with "the hair, the teeth and the smell".

There is another humorous interaction between Gregory and his father, who is a driving instructor. Gregory is crossing the street, without looking both ways, when his father is trying to teach a man how to drive. In the process, his father has to tell the driver to swerve to the left and right and do an emergency stop to avoid hitting Gregory, who has his hand on the hood of the car running backwards trying to avoid getting hit! Gregory's father asks Gregory if he remembers his mother and tells him how she had been asking about him. Playfully, he asks Gregory if they can make a date for breakfast in the kitchen on Friday at 8! This scene brought back memories as a teenager where I spent most of my time in my room daydreaming about life, and never seeing my parents too. But they way Gregory's father handles Gregory was wonderful.

Another hilarious moment, is when Gregory is in the changing room getting dressed from his football practice, when Dorothy comes into the changing room. Gregory has no shirt on, so he uses his index fingers to cover his nipples!

Gregory's 10-year old sister, Madeline, appears and tries to help Gregory make the change from awkward teenager, to young man in love. She teaches him how to spend more time thinking of the color of his clothes. She gives him advice on how to ask her out. It is very funny to watch Gregory listen intently to her as his younger sister advises him when she clearly is still a child, yet very wise beyond her years.

The movie has an interesting ending when Dorothy stands him up and he sees Carol, then Margo, then Susan, who actually has had a crush on him from the start.

If you would like to see a cheerful, entertaining movie without a lot of profanity, drugs, sex or violence, then this is the movie for you.

A small interesting factoid is, Clare Grogan (the actress who plays Susan in this film) used to be the lead singer to a New Wave band in the 80's called Altered Images.

This movie is, quite simply, a beautifully crafted, intelligent, witty, sweet look at awkward adolescence. I never tire of it, and now that it's on DVD I know I'll never wear it out.