Forgotten Fridays – Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Thanks for checking out our Forgotten Fridays feature. This is a feature to review some older films that maybe you have forgotten about or maybe never got around to seeing that we just want to share. They may not be old, maybe not forgotten, but they are not new. Just fun to share.

Today’s review is Girls Just Want to Have Fun

THE GENERAL IDEA

Janey is new in town, and soon meets Lynne, who shares her passion for dancing in general, and “Dance TV” in particular. When a competition is announced to find a new Dance TV regular couple, Janey and Lynne are determined to audition. The only problem is that Janey’s father doesn’t approve of that kind of thing. After Janey makes it to the finals she is paired up with a rebelious boy and finds a romance and a chance to be a TV Star.

THE GOOD

This movie captured the excitement and “dream come true” buzz that goes with all those Dance and Singing reality shows and predates that whole era. But of course this predates this more recent phenomenon.

How can you not like a film that has dialog like “Velcro! Next to the Walkman and Tab, its the coolest invention of the 20th century!” and they brag about things like a 25 inch TV!! The film is just littered with pop culture references of the 80s IN the 80s with all the REALLY bad acting to boot.

The movie gives us an early peek at a teenaged Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker (A short year after dancing on Footloose). It even has a 14 year old Shannen Doherty.

And I am almost certain that Mr Sands was the Glad Garbage Bag man from commercials of the same era. And this film introduced us to “Tune in Tokyo” – a guaranteed party trick that never wins.

THE BAD

You have to have an appreciation for cheese. This movie is a stinking pile of it, but its fun and filled with some eyecandy, but if you over analyze films, you are just going to cringe all the way through this. But its crammed with nostalgia for me, so I am offering it up.

OVERALL

Sometimes you just need a “brain off” film with a little flash and fun of the 80s. Not everything needs to be over analyzed to death. This film has all the steyrotypes and really bad acting. Did I mention the bad acting?

So while I know you won’t “like” the film for its technical merits, I am hoping you can appreciate a fine aged cheese.

Most of you are going to unanimously dislike this but that’s half the fun of the subjectivity of film.

I am going to introduce a new rating system for my Forgotten Fridays picks.

Since all of these Forgotten Friday reviews are going to be what I would already give a high rating to, I had a Tv, Rent or Buy scale going on, but it would seem that an overwhelming majority of my picks get a BUY rating.

So with every Forgotten Friday you see from now on, you get to rate your anticipation for yourself!

TV – If you are at least a little curious, catch it if it comes on TV.
Rent – If it is something you have heard of and forgotten, or just remember enjoying this as much as I did once upon a time, go rent it.
Buy – But if you are like me, and you agree with my review you should go buy it. If its featured here, I already have.

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10 thoughts on “Forgotten Fridays – Girls Just Want to Have Fun

  1. Yes, corn and cheese feature high on the menu, however in comparison to today’s equivalent – e.g. High School Musical – these 80s films standout for me for two reasons:
    1) The super rich bitch – did they just breed them tougher back then? They were mean and stayed mean, none of this ridiculous turnaround near the end of the movie where we all respect each other.
    2)Teenage angst – these kids aren’t swooning and singing, or winning and singing, they are tortured, party crashing weirdos! Fantastic!
    I love it for the corn, I love it for the horrible choreography, but I particularly love it for the eclectic dressing best friend that doesn’t give a rats ass what the world thinks. She would never be scripted into a similar movie today.
    BUY! BUY! BUY!

  2. This, I shouldn’t admit but….I actually purchased this from my local bargain bin for 1 solitary pound! What a bargain.

    I will sadly admit to this being the only SJP film I like! AND the eighties disco tunes get me everytime. How very depressing!

  3. “…if you over analyze films, you are just going to cringe all the way through this.”
    -Rodney

    I think you mean if you analyze films at all (or specifically, try to analyze this particular film), you’ll cringe all the way through this. Any analysis at all, for certain films, could be considered over analyzing (sometimes even a quick peek under the hood would reveal that not much of anything is going on). Some mindless entertainment is well and good, but you don’t need to be a habitual over analyzer to cringe at A LOT of flicks out there.

  4. Well I….uh….yes, I like Helen Hunt!

    As for Lee Montgomery, I did like that one low budget 80’s thriller he did…Prime Risk…and who can forget Burnt Offerings, the only horror film without a remake yet!

    Well, at least until I brought it up, anyway.

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