GREAT TEEN FLICKS & THE BRAT PACK

Posted by JOpinionated on September 2, 2005 in Film | 0 comments

I have a small secret. I still enjoy movies aimed at the 12-22 year old demographic. 10 Things I Hate About You rocked, and Saved was pretty damn funny. Mandy Moore was surprisingly good, as she is in Entourage this season. Lindsay Lohan needs to eat a few sandwiches, but she ruled in Mean Girls and Freaky Friday. The jury is still out on Hilary Duff as an actress, and don’t get me started on the Olsen twins. As a younger lass, Red Dawn scared me but you can’t go wrong with the lethal combination of C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze (that’s right – Baby and Johnny onscreen three years prior to Dirty Dancing!). Speaking of C. Thomas Howell, how great is The Outsiders? Starring the youthful Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, and Diane Lane, Francis Ford Coppola directed this adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s book (she also wrote two other Matt Dillon vehicles – Rumble Fish and Tex). Moving on in the 80′s, Howard Deutch directed a few of my favorites, including Some Kind of Wonderful and Pretty in Pink. Of course before Pretty in Pink, Molly Ringwald gave us two classic performances in Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. We can’t mention Ringwald without also giving a shout out to Andrew McCarthy, who disappeared for a while after starring in St. Elmo’s Fire, Less Than Zero and Mannequin, only to reemerge with quality films like Weekend at Bernies.