Ticket zum Himmel

While other 80's teen movies get all the glory, this movie is worth taking a good looking into. "Seven Minutes in Heaven" is an angst on the art of coming of age. Most of the themes is love, sex, and relationships that come and go. Here you got Natalie(Jennifer Connelly) a brilliant, yet independent student who lets her friend Jeff(Byron Thames) stay at her house after a big fight with his stepfather(Marshall Bell). Then there's Polly(Maddie Corman) who has the toughest time in school finding a boyfriend. So what does she do? Falls in love worth a baseball player from New York named Zoo(Billy Wirth) . Well, when Natalie dates one of Jeff's friends, she discovered he is anything but faithful. And Polly meeting with Zoo doesn't go the way she wished for. All the pandemonium is going on all around. Jeff's mother tries her best to bring her son home, and make a connection with the new stepfather. As for Natalie, she just need to open up, and be more forward with everyone. She lost her mother to leukemia. Polly on the other hand needs to be happy with herself and be true to herself. Yes, it's a pain to be goofy, but chasing the winds can make you more miserable. It's a fun movie, should be used for educational purposes in my opinion. Not too raunchy, very subtle. A keeper in the books. 2 out of 5 stars.

Lots of adjectives like "cute", "sweet" and the always trite "delightful" from my IMDB colleagues below to describe this exercise in teen somnolence. I notice that these descriptors tend to be used on movies like this that neither offend nor provoke but, rather, move pleasantly along until they're done. Kind of like drinking RC Cola. It's ok, but you'd much rather be imbibing a Coke (i.e. John Hughes) or a Pepsi (i.e. Amy Heckerling), and are more than a little annoyed that co writer/director Linda Feferman cannot even manage a decent ripoff of the original 80s teen formula. Nice autumn in Jersey burbs location shooting, though. Solid C.

Its a standard teen story about first romances, unrequited love and first sort of sexual experiences. Its very sweet with just a bit of raunchiness, mainly from Maddie Corman's character. Connelly's character is chaste, kinda bookish and vulnerable to the temptations of older boys. She is also very beautiful (like a younger sister of phoebe cates) fresh faced and very young looking. Which is no surprise as she was 14 when she made this. Its good to see teens being played by teens for once because i'm way to accustomed to teens on screen being played by actors in their mid 20's. One of the better teen films from the 80's in my opinion.

Despite its rather salacious title, this is a light teen dramedy. Unless you're an old coot, you'll probably find it likeable. It isn't so good on developing characters or situations smoothly, though. When you view it, you get the feeling that you've been running back and forth to the kitchen even if you've been sitting down watching the whole time. This is one of those films that counts a great deal on your liking the characters, and they are appealing enough. Jennifer Connelly is the heartthrob of many, I know, but I've always liked the more obscure Maddie Corman. The teens get most of the screen time without a lot of intrusions from those pesky grown-ups. Is it just me or did most of the young males look an awful lot alike?

Ohio teen Natalie Becker (Jennifer Connelly) is home alone while her father is away for work. Her longtime friend Jeff Moran stays with her after another fight with his stepfather. Her friend Polly Franklin likes James Casey III but he starts dating Natalie. Then Polly encounters pro baseball player Zoo Knudson and she pretends to be 18. It's a lot of awkward teenage romantic attempts for the three friends.

The main reason to see this is Connelly. She's a bit awkward and new at the time. It's too bad that she never got into the John Hughes teen movies until Career Opportunities. This is not the best of the high school genre. The main problem is the construction. These three best friends are rarely in the same scene together. They get scattered. They need more scenes together to build chemistry and manufacture confrontations. The situations are a little edgy sexually. The characters are compelling but the drama stutters along the way.