St. Elmo's Fire

Amazon.com

A collective vanity piece for the so-called Brat Pack of the 1980s, this coming-of-age movie--written and directed by Joel Schumacher (A Time to Kill)--is a largely unbelievable ensemble piece about college grads having trouble getting a lift-off into adulthood. As in John Hughes's Breakfast Club--which has a lot of casting overlap with this film--each actor plays a rather narrow type with problems common to his or her classification. Some (as with Rob Lowe's seemingly doomstruck character) are more absurd than others. But absurdity isn't the issue in this movie; a general sense of indulgence is. Schumacher not only presumes an undeserved mystique about this cast, but he also exploits it and comes up empty. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Top 50.......2007-08-27

Have I seen this movie more time than the Breakfast Club? I truely don't know the answer. The passage of time is marked in this movie, the character's evolve.

Corey Cotta, Author of All of Yesterdays Tomorrows.

A Treasure Trove of Lunacy!.......2007-08-26

For those too old, too young or too drugged-up to recall, St. Elmo's Fire whizzes through the sex, love, drug, career, coiffure, and fashion hang-ups of seven Georgetown U. postgrads played very broadly indeed by Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy and Mare Winningham.

The movie opens when they gather at a hospital after part-time sax star and full-time sex hound Lowe has crashed the car of his rich, virginal, platonic girlfriend (Winningham). Since neither is killed, damn it, that leaves the self-enchanted Lowe--trying for tragic hipness but achieving tragic limpness--to describe the auto mishap thusly: "Blinding white light, skid, tree, impact. It was out of hand. It was a metaphysical precision collision." (He sounds more at home when getting off lines like, "Look, this face seats five.")

The pals head for their old collegiate bar, St. Elmo's Fire, where would-be lawyer Estevez waits tables and plots how to woo frozen-faced, monotone-voiced doctor-to-be Andie MacDowell, his idea of "the only evidence of God that I can find on this entire planet, with the exception of the mystical force that removes one of my socks from the dryer every time I do the laundry." Chain-smoking would-be writer McCarthy is forever wondering about the "meaning of life" or moaning, "It ain't easy being me." (It's gotta be easier than watching him.)

Then there's "the couple most likely to couple," would-be politico Nelson, who's frantic to wed the annoying Sheedy, hoping it'll change his promiscuous ways. Most fun is Demi Moore, the high-society, low-esteem doll who, decked out in what look like Cyndi Lauper's old frocks and hair extensions, travels the low road to cocaine, maxed-out credit cards and dead-end relationships. Grilled as to why she's sleeping with her boss, Moore growls, "This is the '80s. Bop him for a few years, get his job when he gets his hands caught in the vault, become a legend, do a black mink ad, get caught in a massive sex scandal and retire a disgrace, then write a huge bestseller, and become a fabulous host of my own talk show."

When Sheedy confronts Nelson with his womanizing, he dumps her, so she shacks up with McCarthy, who she dumps before deciding, "I'm going to try my life without any miracles for a while." Lowe nearly date-rapes a protesting Moore, telling her, "I'll bet you wouldn't have so much to say with me in your mouth." With pals like this, no wonder Moore croaks, "I never thought I'd be so tired at 22!" Lowe next hits up Winningham, who, before saying yes, delivers a hooty, must be heard to be believed monologue on independence, as embodied in the joys of being able to make her own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches whenever she pleases.

Hang on for the truly mad sequence in which a cocaine-freaked Moore squats in her ocher-colored living room while sheer curtains billow wildly about her and Lowe stares straight into the screen to say, "We're all going through this. Hey, it's our time on the edge." If you're the type who howls over badly dated movies from other people's youth, maybe it's time to revisit St. Elmo's Fire. It's way out of hand.

another bad 80s teen movie........2007-08-20

every one told me it was a classic , WHY!?!, so i watched it. this movie had potential, not bad actors but it sucked bad anyway. whiny kids who should be getting drunk at the bar insted and than drive home and die in a really bad crash, now that i would watch, just for the satisfaction of them making me lose my precious time watching this garbage.
Don't buy this!!!!

Ahh, you've got to love it!.......2007-08-05

For anyone who was a teenager in the 80's, it's classic! We all loved the soundtrack and the story that wasn't that good. I still like watching it, it takes me back...

More 80's movies.......2007-07-23

Wow, who doesn't love a story of 7 friends who graduate from college and try to fit in the world? Watching relationships form and fail, and trying to understand where they fit in the world and what they are going to do to make their mark on the world is pretty funny stuff. The things these guiys go through, is hilarious. But it also shows that friendships will remain and you need your friends to rely on and have that support no matter what happens in life. Including a great cast of actors for the time, it also has a great soundtrack to it too. A must have to own in any DVD collection of the 80's scene.

Average customer rating:

Not Bad
Goodbye Paul
Edited

Amnesia

Manufacturer: Digiview
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Big Bad Mama - Special Edition

ASIN: B000BCLPGA

Product Description

A Minister has found himself heavily involved in an illicit affair with his son's teacher. Unable to see an end to his deceptive path, he fakes his own death. However, his plan goes awry and he is left with no recollection of himself or his former life.

Customer Reviews:

Not Bad.......2007-03-10

This movie is a little campy. There's a great little scene where the luckless, fatherless stepson of the bad preacher is playing with a paddleball and he just can't hit that ball for nothin'. That's kind of his lot in life. His stepfather's too busy sleeping with the women in his congregation to take notice of him. The mom (Ally Sheedy) is lost in her own little world of inhibition and resentment. About two-thirds of the way through it began to really seem like the actors were adlibbing the dialogue as they went. The storyline starts looking like a copy of Misery toward the end. But there's some good acting (especially Sally Kellerman) and a great soundtrack. The movie's entertaining, not extraordinarily so, but a pleasant way to spend two hours.

Goodbye Paul.......2005-12-27

I read the other review on this site, and I see that it gave only one star because the film was edited, not because the film was poor. The one star rating was in anger over the editing.

I can sympathize with that, but I've never seen the original so I can only rate it on what I saw, and this is a funny film. Maybe it would have been more enjoyable with some nudity, but it stands on its own just fine without it.

It is the story of a very annoying minister, a real obnoxious jerk who happens to be a womanizer. He has no redeeming social value. He is the one who ends up getting amnesia, after falling from a rowboat in a lake while in the process of faking his own death in order to begin life anew with his girlfriend, ditching his wife and her son.

That is where Sally Kirkland comes in. She's funny. The man, now with amnesia, wanders into her motel, and she won't let him go. She's a lonely and crazy woman, and she decides that this man is her soul mate, even if she has to tie his wrists and ankles to the bed to keep him there.

Meanwhile, both his wife and his girlfriend have a tough decision to make. Should they kill him for the insurance or not? Ally Sheedy does an excellent deadpan job as the wife. I remember enjoying her in Breakfast Club so many years ago.

This movie reminds me of the great song by the Dixie Chicks, Goodbye Earl.

Edited.......2005-12-04

The Digiview Version of this title, all be it inexpensive, is an edited version. This decent "B" Title has been chopped to remove the nudity for this cheap DVD release. I don't know if Digiview did it or it is just the copy they got, but the R rating doesn't really apply to this version.

Average customer rating:

Top 50
A Treasure Trove of Lunacy!
another bad 80s teen movie.
Ahh, you've got to love it!
More 80's movies

St. Elmo's Fire [Region 2]
Starring: Emilio Estevez , Rob Lowe , Andrew McCarthy , Demi Moore , and Judd Nelson
Director: Joel Schumacher
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00004T8WS

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Top 50.......2007-08-27

A Treasure Trove of Lunacy!.......2007-08-26

another bad 80s teen movie........2007-08-20

Ahh, you've got to love it!.......2007-08-05

For anyone who was a teenager in the 80's, it's classic! We all loved the soundtrack and the story that wasn't that good. I still like watching it, it takes me back...

More 80's movies.......2007-07-23

Average customer rating:

Top 50
A Treasure Trove of Lunacy!
another bad 80s teen movie.
Ahh, you've got to love it!
More 80's movies

St. Elmo's Fire [Region 2]
Starring: Emilio Estevez , Rob Lowe , Andrew McCarthy , Demi Moore , and Judd Nelson
Director: Joel Schumacher
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00004TYY6

Customer Reviews:

Top 50.......2007-08-27

A Treasure Trove of Lunacy!.......2007-08-26

another bad 80s teen movie........2007-08-20

Ahh, you've got to love it!.......2007-08-05

For anyone who was a teenager in the 80's, it's classic! We all loved the soundtrack and the story that wasn't that good. I still like watching it, it takes me back...

More 80's movies.......2007-07-23

DVD:

DVD

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