Inkognito

Being a child of the 80's, I enjoyed Hiding Out on several levels. I think that Annabeth Gish is a beautiful woman and love the way she smiles during this movie. She is lucky in the characters she played while a younger actress. She was a good actress then and she is a great one now. Jon Cryer is a good actor but he doesn't seem totally comfortable in this role. Perhaps that is a good thing, since he is a fish out of water character here. The high school kids were pretty believable, especially Keith Coogan. His is pretty much the same character from Adventures in Babysitting, just grown up now. This is pretty amazing since both movies came out in 1987.

The ending is bit contrived but entertaining just the same. Hiding Out is a really good movie and worth the rental fee if you want some 80's nostalgia or too see something safe for the whole family. I have watched it numerous times and still look forward to seeing it again.

Andrew Morenski is successful stock broker who is called to court to testify against a mob boss who was into some rather dubious dealings. When one of his co-workers, who is also due to give evidence, is murdered, Andrew is called to be guarded by the police. But all thoughts of safety are blown away when an attempt on Andrew's life quickly follows. On the run, Andrew finds a safety haven in the form of his cousin's High School. Posing as a student, Andrew finds that High School has a whole different type of peril waiting to engulf him....again.

Released just a year after Jon Cryer had become popular due to his turn as Duckie in John Hughes' Pretty In Pink-Hiding Out finds Cryer attempting to be leading man potential. That he isn't, is of no major harm to this charming and overlooked picture in the American teen comedy genre. When we first meet Cryer's Andrew Morenski, he's a successful business man with a beard you could lose a badger in. But we know it's a youthful Jon Cryer (he was 21 at the time of making the film but looking every inch like a teenager), so it's kind of a murky start from which to hopefully entice the viewer fully into the premise. Yet it all quickly turns around as Morenski hits High School. Hair dyed two colours and dressed like some rockabilly rebel, this is where Cryer steps into his element.

From here on in, save for the inevitable gun buffoonery show down at the end, the film is a delightful comedy about the perils of school. Love, rivals, school politics and witch like teachers all come in for a shiny going over in Bob Giraldi's film. Some of it's twee, and some of it is even morally questionable, but it wears its comedy and romantic heart on its sleeves. Hell the film even has something to say about the truth and how it's taught in schools (look out for a great sequence as Andrew/Max calls into question the teachers teaching of President Nixon). So it's not all fluff for sure. But it's the fluff that drives the film to its conclusion, and if that fluff chiefly is decent enough to have met the viewers expectations?

For me it most certainly did, I only asked one thing from this film, and that was for it to give me some chuckles and to leave me smiling come the end. It did both, so maybe, just maybe, you missed this in the late 80s and are now stuck for some 80s veneer comedy with a zippy 80s soundtrack. If so? This might just be the ticket for you. 7/10

This movie falls into the "high school comedy" genre (like Better Off Dead and others). If you're not looking for a serious movie and are willing to suspend your disbelief, it is a lighthearted comedy and one of my personal favorites. Possibly not for the "serious critic" movie watcher, but for those looking for fun, check this one out.

Being in my early 30's and an avid movie watcher, this one somehow escaped my grasp till about 5 years ago when i randomly happened upon it. And then again I managed to get thru high school without seeing pretty in pink. For the 99% percent of you who felt badly for poor Duckie, this movie might dull the pain and serve as retribution. Sort of. The film moves along at a good clip, and while the fake beard is silly looking, it's just the way it had to be. Gotta have something extreme to offset Cryer's adorable baby face and convince you he was 28 and not actually 22...I don't think he could .grow that beard now :) And Keith Coogan as his cousin is perfect. God I had such a huge crush on him when i was 9. But I do love the red heads. Anyhow this movie is great for a rainy/ sick day when you want something to entertain you that doesn't require your brain to do any heavy lifting. Silly but satisfying. And btw I long for the roller skate scene to still exist like it does in this movie...all chill and relaxed. At my place its roll like a demon fast and furious or get off the rink if you can! So not fun :(

"Hiding Out" is a decent lightweight feature for Jon Cryer and Keith Coogan fans alike. Cryer plays a financial investor who is witness to a mobster's inside trading. But, instead of expediting his testimony and sending him to the witness protection program, he plays dress up and poses as a high school student, a task which is he too uptight for at first, but eventually gets into the swing of things.

The story is pretty stupid, and the ending, in that eager attempt for a happy ending by letting all of the characters fall in love while impecably saving the day, is even more stupid. But, if you don't mind dumb 80s comedies like these, so long as they're about the teen life, then you should enjoy this. One thing's for sure, Jon Cryer, no matter how old he gets, still looks like a teenager.