It has its flaws, but they just can't hurt this wonderful film!

Rating: 8/10 (29 April 2001)

This film brings me back to my high school days, being 15 and worrying about the most trivial of things. And this film is about how the most ordinary and banal of occurrences - being a virgin, failing a project, hating your parents, stupid jock pranks - can all seem so earth-shattering to the people they affect.
This film should not be taken too seriously. It's mostly tongue-in-cheek, the dialogue is often purposefully overly cheezy, the characters are all stereotypes and aren't too deep. Even the teacher is an overdone caricature. But it all works. And the greatest part is that this film isn't dated at all...well, aside from the evil hair-styles and horrid 80s music (couldn't they have used *good* 80s pop?? I wish I *could* forget about the Simple Minds!!)
Some of it is *too* cheezy..the horrid synth music that rises to a predictable crescendo whenever something dramatic happens being a good example. The silly make-over (which ends up uglifying Ally Sheedy...she looked *way* cuter in her 혩reject' form) and odd pairing of Sheedy and Estevez (where did *that* come from? All of a sudden. no prior hints, they're madly in love?? At least with Molly vs. Nelson you could see them eyeing each other and flirting all throughout the film... (-sigh- the nerds never get the girl...;)
Anyhow, that aside, many of the lines are still memorable (혩Does Barry Manilow know you have his wardrobe?', 혩How DOES one become a janitor?', 혩No sir, because it's in Johnson's underwear...') And a lot of the quotes here have been used or referred to in many recent films (eg: Go). This film has a cool-factor of ten! It's hilarious, the interplay between characters is great, and even the cheezy parts are fun! The simple fact is that any aspect of this film that is groanable is smothered by all of the better aspects. And c'mon, being a high school teen is filled with cheeze anyhow, so it all fits in the greater scheme of things;)
Overall: great direction, sharp dialogue, great acting (this was Judd Nelson's *best* role ever! And he carries this film as well...the other characters support him). Okay, so Emilio got the girl, so Judd Nelson pumped his fist in the air like a moron (hey, if *I* got to kiss Molly Ringwald, I'd be pumping my fist like a moron, too!!) This film is pure amusement, and behind it all we can nod our heads and say: yeah, this is what it was like! The pressures of being a teenager...life really could suck sometimes. And even though in retrospect it seem so silly, sometimes it's okay for the boring and trivial to be of earth-shattering importance...
Take this film for what it is: a fun watch and a handbook to being a teenager, stereotypical or not. An easy 8/10!!