BEFORE: This time it's Dan Fogler who carries over from "Good Luck Chuck" - thank God it wasn't Dane Cook, that's what I'm thinking. I've got just about a week left in my examination of love and relationships for this year - the topic never really goes away, it's always kind of there in the background in most movies, but the FOCUS on the topic will be going away. I feel like I'm kind of phasing it out gradually as I slip back into the comedy genre.
Here's the line-up for TCM's "31 Days of Oscar" programming for tomorrow, Saturday, March 12. I'll be working at the NY Children's Film Festival, so I'll be out all day, and I won't be able to catch any of these:
6:00 am "Come and Get It" (1936)
8:00 am "Johnny Eager" (1942)
10:00 am "The Subject Was Roses" (1968)
12:00 pm "Cool Hand Luke" (1967)
2:15 pm "Topkapi" (1964)
4:30 pm "Spartacus" (1960)
8:00 pm "Chariots of Fire" (1981)
10:15 pm "Arthur" (1981)
12:15 am "Victor/Victoria" (1982)
2:45 am "Fame" (1980)
OK, now I'm really puzzled, these films aren't all from the same decade, and I can't think of anything on anyone they have in common. It looks like maybe they're separating films by decades on weekdays, and then Saturdays and Sundays are a mixed bag? Or they put the bigger hits, the more popular films on weekends because more people are watching? I just don't get it. A prison movie, a gladiator movie, an Olympics movie, a transgender drag comedy and a high-school for performing arts movie? Or are these all movies with gay subtext or something, what am I missing here? Either way, I've seen SIX out of these 10, that's a lot for me - "Cool Hand Luke", "Spartacus" and then everything after that. The new running total, 52 seen out of 130, brings me up to 40% even.
OH, I get it now - I checked the TCM web-site and downloaded the PDF schedule for the month, that explains things a little better than the daily schedule on their site. Yes, the weekday films are arranged by decade, the first six films on Saturday, March 12 all won Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, then the last four films won Oscars during the 1980's - various Oscars, though, not all in the same category. It all makes sense now, except that it's still a very wacky way to organize everything.
THE PLOT: Four years after graduation, an awkward genius uses his sister's boyfriend's Labor Day party as the perfect opportunity to make his move on his high school crush.
AFTER: OK, I avoided this film for a good long time, and I stand by that decision. It's only being included here because I'm in a transitional phase, where rom-coms meet comedy, and in about 7 or 8 days time my film choice will be all com and no rom, and the transition will be complete. Then will come Ryan Reynolds films, then Nicolas Cage movies, and this month will be over before you know it. But damn, first I have to talk about "Take Me Home Tonight". I think maybe I avoided it because I don't care for that Eddie Money song, not a big Ronnie Spector fan either, II did see Eddie Money in concert one time, he opened for Styx and REO Speedwagon on a double-bill. Seems about right - Eddie Money's gone now, and so is Ronnie Spector. But guess what, that song is NOT heard in this movie! That seems like an odd choice, to use the title but not the song - the rights must have been too expensive. I guess maybe they used that title, then they tried to buy the song, but then the songwriter(s) probably assumed they had the filmmakers over the proverbial barrel, and jacked up the price. What are you going to do, make a movie based on that song and then NOT use the song? Apparently so - point to the filmmakers.
There's plenty of 80's music in the film, though, makes sense since it's set back then, umm, I think. Cocaine? Skinny ties? Members Only jackets? Video-rental stores? Yep, that's the 1980's. It was confusing for a bit because the credits feature a bunch of 80's stuff in a yearbook-style montage, but then everybody is talking about their college experiences, and high-school was, like, SO four years ago, so is it the 80's or not the 80's? I guess it's still the 80's, because there's a 10-year swing there, so everybody could have graduated Shermer High in 1984 and this could be set in 1988, but, like, whatevs. Totally. There's "Video Killed the Radio Star", "Hungry Like the Wolf", "Der Kommisar", "Safety Dance", "Bette Davis Eyes", "Come On Eileen", Greg Kihn's "Jeopardy" and Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". Yep, that's the Golden Age of MTV, the big hits of 1983-1984, I think. God, that does kind of take me back. Then there are re-worked or re-mixed versions of "Don't You Want Me" and "Let My Love Open the Door", and that's the kind of stuff I can get behind.
I only wish the movie was half as entertaining as the music - the lead character works in a Suncoast video-store, they tried to survive into the 1990's by SELLING VHS tapes instead of just renting them like Blockbuster, but I think the writing was probably very prominently on the wall at that point - reportedly there were only 5 stores left in the chain by 2021. Anyway, Matt Franklin is an MIT graduate who can't seem to get his career on track - geez, it's not like the late 1980's were boom years for software engineers or anything - but when he sees his old crush walk into the store, he ditches the orange vest and claims to be working in finance. Bad move, she works in that career, too, and didn't think Goldman Sachs had an L.A. office (it doesn't, apparently).
Oddly, both this film and "Good Luck Chuck" have more in common than just Dan Fogler, they both use a middle school game of "Seven Minutes in Heaven" as a traumatic memory, and a starting point for the romance plot. "Good Luck Chuck" showed kids playing the game in flashback, but "Take Me Home Tonight" merely talks about the game, Tori apparently was very kind to Matt and told everyone he was a good kisser, even though they didn't kiss. Matt never was able to turn that into a date with her, and he's determined not to let the chance slip by a second time. So, he lies - and this leads to a wild night of getting to know Tori again, but then there's also two parties, a lot of drinking, a stolen car, some found cocaine, and lots of other college age pranks and tomfoolery.
Fogler's character gets stoned and hits on a lot of women, but basically plays the same dorky, rude, offensive and childish character he played in "Good Luck Chuck" - like it's great if you're an actor and you hit some kind of sweet spot, if casting directors stereotype you that does mean you can get steady work, but still, what are you DOING, man? Playing the horrid horndog second banana in teen comedies is a bit like getting typecast as a serial killer on crime dramas, I mean you'll get WORK, but is it really acting work that you can be proud of? Then his character drinks more and makes out with a woman whose partner likes to watch, only that's not his thing. Stick to the Chris Farley career track and just dance your fat-guy dance - only, you know, at some point, get off that Chris Farley career track.
The much more interesting storyline here, though, is the "C" story - this is the one about Matt's twin sister, who at the start of the movie is close to moving in with her steady boyfriend, or maybe even getting engaged. BUT she's also applied to grad school in the U.K. and she hasn't had the nerve to tell him about this, or even to open up the letter from the university. Throughout the film, though, you can tell her character is growing more tired and bored with this party hound-slash-douchebag, and after he tells the SAME story about the pool and his grandma again and again and again, you can tell she's reaching some kind of breaking point. What's interesting here is that the lovers are played by Anna Faris and Chris Pratt, who I think were married when this film was released (the film was shelved for four years, so perhaps they met during filming?), and then SHE had to fake-break up with HIM, and if you pause it at just the right time, you can see when his character's heart just shatters. Because acting. This was ironic because they were a couple when their characters split, then a few years later HE broke up with HER in real life, so then I guess this scene became doubly ironic?
But no, it didn't happen like I thought it might - putting this film after "Good Luck Chuck" did not help this film resemble the "Citizen Kane" of teen comedies, by comparison. That would be a bit too much of a stretch. There are just way too many random elements here, plot points that go nowhere, and even characters that are just given nothing of value to do. Why?
Also starring Topher Grace (last seen in "Too Big to Fail"), Anna Faris (last seen in "Waiting..."), Teresa Palmer (last seen in "Hacksaw Ridge"), Chris Pratt (last seen in "The Kid" (2019)), Michael Biehn (last seen in "Planet Terror"), Lucy Punch (last seen in "A Good Old Fashioned Orgy"), Jeanie Hackett, Michelle Trachtenberg (last seen in "Cop Out"), Demetri Martin (last seen in "Paper Heart"), Michael Ian Black (last seen in "They Came Together"), Bob Odenkirk (last seen in "Let's Go to Prison"), Angie Everhart, Edwin Hodge (last seen in "The Alamo" (2004)), Jay Jablonski (last seen in "The Big Short"), Candace Kroslak, Nathalie Kelley, Wade Allain-Marcus, Robert Hoffman (last seen in "The Onion Movie"), Ryan Bittle, Bruce Nelson, Seth Gabel, James Sharpe, Kimberly Dearing, Clement von Franckenstein (last seen in "Hail, Caesar!"), Jennifer Sommerfeld, Kyle Gonnell (last seen in "Middle Men"), Dustin Leighton, Richard Meek, Ginnifer Goodwin (last seen in "A Single Man"), Annie Karstens, with archive footage of Ronald Reagan (last seen in "Berlin, I Love You") in the opening credits.
RATING: 4 out of 10 rounds of Truth or Dare
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