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St. Elmo's Fire

St. Elmo's Fire

List Price: $14.94
Your Price: $11.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: We didn't call them brats for nothing
Review: What a bunch of self-absorbed whiners these characters are. Did anyone in the crew watch the rushes during Estevez's scenes and notice that he's a totally unsympathetic character who apparently wasn't written to be that way? Is sulking all that guy can do? He has one face, like Steven Seagal, and to him "emoting" means more of the same face. To hear Andrew McCarthy pontificating on the meaning of life and love through puffs of cigarette smoke at -- what was he -- 12? -- is hilarious (and again, inadvertently). Oh, and hasn't everyone we know who's suffered a breakdown gotten to do it in a chic bare room with a beautiful billowing curtain overhead? Study the script sometime, as long as you haven't eaten first -- one mock crisis piled on top of another; it's the creatively bankrupt writer's guide to scene and character transitions. Oh -- OH -- and if you're an African American, just try to find the one African American character in the plot, and try not to be outraged. Spike Lee should lay off UPN and check out this movie.

OK, OK, I will concede one tiny point -- the movie does have one good line. Rob Lowe: "Hey, it's not a party until something gets broken."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: There are worse things you could do to kill an hour or two
Review: I loved this film. Ok I was 8 when it was originally released but I still love it and the whole genre of films from this era. The acting is great particularly by Andrew Mc Carthy and Ally Sheedy. Try watching this film you will enjoy it. And I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. I may not be american but being 23 now I fully sympathise with the choices people have to make in life about what's right for them. I don't know if this is meant to teach us a lesson but I think it does it teaches us to look at friendship because sometimes friends can be the best and worst thing in your life. At the risk of sounding like a cheesy video cover I dare you not to enjoy this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: College -- Is there any better time of one's life?
Review: I wish this movie was available on DVD! I saw this movie for the first time in high school -- I liked it then but not nearly as much as when I viewed it upon graduating college. This movie is for anyone who's ever attended college and experienced it with a group of close friends. It still makes me sentimental to watch the movie and recall the friends who I pulled through and who pulled ME through college -- alcoholics, drug users, people who were suicidal, people who were highly political, people who didn't care anything about politics, people who "stole" girlfriends and people who simply never understood what college was about or what was expected to happen after college. It would be impossible for anyone whose experienced college life not to relate to at least one character or scene within this movie. When I attended a recent reunion, myself and a group of friends were required to come to the aid of another friend who was being arrested. After defusing the situation, I quietly said: "Wow, reminds me of St. Elmo's Fire". All of my friends fell quiet for a moment -- watch the movie and you will understand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This is a fabulous story about seven friends who all go through love, betrayal, work.... and life. They are recent college graduates, all working through their problems. Alec and Leslie (Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy) are working through their romantic relationship. Wendy (Mare Whittingham) is in love with Billy (Rob Lowe) but he's in a failing marriage. Jules is the hard partier of the group... always doing drugs or paying for things she can't afford. Kevin (Andrew McCarthy) is in love with a woman he can't have and Kirby (Emilio Estivez)is obsessed over an older woman. They all go through hard times but end up making out fine. :)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: *Incredibly* Mixed Feelings- SPOILER WARNINGS!
Review: I'm not entirely sure, even after a repeat viewing, what to think about this one. I honestly love several other Brat Pack movies, i.e. The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and to a slightly lesser extent, Pretty In Pink. I was expecting this one, with its superb collection of 80s actors, to find a new home on my list of favorites.

Unfortunately, I found several of the plot points incredibly cliched and unrealistic. For example, Kevin (the always adorable Andrew McCarthy) spends altogether too much time trading life views with a worldly prostitute. The marriage of Billy (Rob Lowe) seems overly cartoonish and stereotypical. I had a hard time drumming up any vestige of sympathy for his relentlessly loser-y character. I also felt that Judd Nelson's Alec was an irredeemable jerk who didn't even deserve a chance at getting Ally Sheedy back after he cheated on her multiple times. Kevin went overboard after his one-night stand with Leslie (Sheedy), suggesting that they immediately move in together right after she just broke up with someone else!

Also, the plot threads were resolved unbelievably quickly at the end, and the solutions were pat and unconvincing. Billy's quickie divorce (freeing him up to sleep with Mare Winningham's virginal character) seemed too neat a way to resolve his difficult marriage. Leslie's giggling remark about it being too hard to choose between Alec and Kevin because she loves them both nearly made me gag, and Alec all of a sudden lost his jerkiness. The Emilio Estevez plotline where he chases an old flame played by Andie MacDowell, just brings the flames to my cheeks. It's constant humiliation for Emilio's character, but at least his lack of reward is realistic. Demi Moore's portrayal of the drug-addicted Jules isn't too unconvincing, but the resolution of her troubles is cheesily bad, as Billy tells her (miraculously managing to keep a straight face as he does so) that she's only making up her problems. (Making up drug and sexual addictions? Jules must have a heck of an imagination!) The only moment in this movie that actually made my heart twist even remotely is when Billy, longing for his college heyday and maybe a real job, asks the old frat boys if they could use him there again. Their response? "Sure, we need someone to get us some good drugs."

All in all, I'd have to say that the Brat Pack actors have all appeared in vastly superior films. The music was the only aspect of the movie that earned my unconditional approval.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Still holds up even though the 80s are long gone...
Review: This is one of my favorite movies, and one of the few comedies that I really enjoy. The dialogue is outstanding (Drunk definitely, I don't know if you can call it driving), and really makes you believe that these people are all friends. It's a bit bordering on unreality, but despite that it really is a good movie. Even though it's 15 years old, it still holds true--I can completely relate to their cluelessness of what to do next, and especially Andrew McCarthy's quest for the meaning of life. There are a lot of cringe worthy moments (Kirby's obsession with Dale, for one), but I would definitely recommend watching this. It's probably one of the best movies of the 80s, even eclipsing The Breakfast Club, in my opinion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic Brat Pack
Review: I've seen all the coming of age '80s movies like "The Breakfast Club" and while it was funny, I couldn't quite relate to it simply because I wasn't that age in the '80s. I'd spent more time laughing at the '80s teen fashions portrayed in those movies. "St Elmo's Fire" is the only Brat Pack movie I know that I not only hold dear but can completely relate to, even though I graduated from college fifteen years later than the year portrayed in the movie. I've seen this movie 17 times now and each time is just as profoundly endearing and funny as the first. This movie is definitely a must-see and the only movie I've ever rated five-star. Like the adage goes, "they don't make 'em like they used to!" Even the movie's soundtrack is a timeless jewel!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: MIXED FEELINGS FOR A SO-SO COMEDY
Review: While I think it's funny, entertaining, and even touching to watch, I can't help but think how absurd it is for a group of twenty-two-year-old preppies, just out of college, to be reminiscing about "the good old days" and longing for their lost youth, as if they were 80-year-old men and women looking back on their lives. They've barely begun their lives, and already they're dwelling on their regrets. I think Mare Winningham does a wonderful job as the shy virgin. Judd Nelson is terrific as the ambitious preppie. Demi Moore is perfect as the shallow vixen, although her raspy voice is annoying. Emilio Estevez is only moderately engaging in his role, but he does have some of the best lines. Rob Lowe's character is overacted and unconvincing. Andrew McCarthy is just plain annoying (Somebody please wipe that stupid smirk off his face). All in all, a watchable, enjoyable film, whose only real flaw is the premise. If you want a brat-pack movie, try THE BREAKFAST CLUB, instead.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: At The Crossroad
Review: I, personally, thought this was an excellent story because it gave you seven situation experiences of what it is like when one is at the fork of his life and has to work throught it. Thus deciding whether to be a responsible independent adult or remain the dependent child. Lord knows there are many more situations than these a person has to and will experience before one finds their nitch.

I truly believe everyone should see this movie, it is excellent for anyone who is about to step out in this world on their own. Perhaps, they will learn that when they are in that process of getting there, "St. Elmo's Fire" is exactly what it is. The movie is about life and experiences and you just don't make it in this world without either.

See "St. Elmo's Fire". You will feel better about you life when you look back thus realizing, hey, I wasn't the only mixed up kid before I became the responsible adult I am now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "No Billy Joel leaves this apartment"--Alec (Judd Nelson)
Review: What a classic flick! Great cast...definetly at some of their best work. Its the story of life after college and the not so pleasant reality it brings. There's a little bit of somebody you know in each of these characters and we can all relate. They are vulnerable yet strong...and this movie is hilarious! Everyone thinks Andrew McCarthy is gay...Emilio stalks an old flame named Dale Beaverman...and of course, Rob Lowe as the boy who will never grow up. This is a must see.


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