The Moral Corruption of Sandy

Rating: 7/10 (28 March 2007)

Grease definitely has a fun energy to it, and all of the cast has great chemistry. That's the main reason that this film, despite being nearly 30 years old and set 20 years earlier than that, still manages to appeal to young people of today who laugh and have fun with it, and of course, sing those timeless songs. So hats off to Grease for that.
Now that being said: the movie is incredibly stupid! It's basically a 90 minute episode of Happy Days or Saved By the Bell in which we follow various plot lines in a high school, strung together by the fun songs. We're treated to such stupid dialog as: "This year, I don't take no crap from nobody." "Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am." "Hey, it's Eugene!"
In one plot line, Frenchy (who's a memorable character but dumber than a bag of nails) becomes a beauty school drop out. However, aside from being an excuse for Frankie Avalon to sing that song, the plot line goes nowhere and she still magically graduates high school along side everyone else. Who knew it was so easy to drop out and get back in?
But then there's the main plot line: two youths named Danny and Sandy fall in love one summer, which is just fine in the real world, but once back in high school, they realize they're in different social cliques; he's a greaser and she's a goody-goody. Throughout the school year their relationship takes several turns, before arriving at an absurd ending in which all problems are magically solved by Sandy getting a makeover and becoming "cool." The message here is so superficial that it's actually funny: "Give in to peer pressure and be whatever kind of person you need to be to make your boyfriend or girlfriend happy." Considering Sandy has been celibate through all of the movie till now, I think it's implied Danny will get a nice surprise that night; a message to give to young girls, ha ha.
So, to wrap up this little review, Grease certainly has its moments, and IS a well-made movie musical, or else it wouldn't have the audience it does. It's a feel-good movie; it just has zero substance.