Valley Girl

I have to start by saying that the original is still one of my all-time favorite films. I was 16 and growing up in Pasadena, California when it was released. I began my 35-year career as a DJ a few months before that. Later, I was an intern at KROQ in 1987 and lived and worked in the San Fernando Valley in my early adulthood. I still have my original VHS copy of it, as well as a DVD, and a vinyl copy of the original soundtrack.

The review of this film by moderniste is spot-on and perfectly correct. This version can't hold a candle to the original in terms of actual Los Angeles early 80s New Wave/Post-Punk culture. The filmmakers tried too hard to reference 80s pop culture and like, totally lost the substance of it, dude, fer sure. Then again, making it into a musical, and a Disney-esque one at that, was clearly poor judgement.

I gave it 5 stars because I like a lot of the music that was used and I'm being forgiving of all of the allowances that the writer(s) thought had to be made for post-Generation X audiences. Making the party that Randy and Julie took off from into a costume party where everyone was dressed as a pop culture icon was an interesting twist, although they obviously felt they had to explain each costume (though to be honest, I would have missed the Dukes of Hazzard reference).

Having KROQ host a prom is something that wouldn't have happened. I was the DJ at many Southland proms in that time period that had Roq Joq come for a couple of hours, but I don't remember Raechel Donahue ever doing an appearance, and Rodney Bingenheimer definitely would not have. It would likely have been Richard Blade, "Swedish" Egil Aalvik, Jim "Poor Man" Trenton, Jed "the Fish" Gould, or possibly Freddy Snakeskin.

Having said all of that, homages rarely stand up to the original, but kudos to the film's producers for paying tribute to a totally trippendicular cult classic, albeit in a 2020 way. As I mentioned, the idea of making it a musical was a misfire, but to fair, if they had tried to re-make the original, it almost certainly would've also fallen flat, especially if they didn't consult with people who were there in those days. It would be pretty much impossible to duplicate the perfection of Deborah Foreman and Nicholas Cage in the original anyway.

30 year old teenagers dancing to 80s songs with poor singing voices. Cheesy love story between two teenagers of different worlds. Why is this even a movie? Maybe Hollywood can stop making remakes. Because they are usually not entertaining.

I'm a big fan of the original. I grew up during the Valley Girl era, only in a valley in Northern rather than Southern California. I leaned heavily towards the punk/post punk side of things, but I have fond memories of the more mainstream styles and music of that time. Seeing The Plimsouls playing in a club in a movie was a BIG DEAL to an 80's music nerd, as was hearing Bonnie Hayes, Sparks and Modern English when it was still rare to hear those types of bands on mainstream radio.

But this movie just feels too far removed to really get how we were back then. The styling is just all wrong. Punks in the early 80's had really short and razor-styled haircuts. It was a radical departure from the long surfer mops and floppy mullets that your average dude was rocking back then. Short, tightly cut hair looked revolutionary back then. Some sloppily-dressed guy like the lead actor with messy, longish floppy hair would have been seen as a stoner, not a punk. Or maybe, they got the look confused with the grunge styles of a decade later. But punk? No way. Nic Cage wasn't 100% authentic either, but his hair was spot-on, and his style really set him apart from the preppy jocks.

The casting of the original was so inspired. Nic Cage was just starting to step into his acting style, and he was sexy, and totally believable as the edgy guy who was an undercover hottie, and also possessed of a big heart and soul. But Deborah Foreman-she was so PERFECT. She had this luminous quality about her, with a lithe, delicate build, perfect 80's feathered hair, a very clean and fresh face with sparkling eyes, and a winsome sweetness and elegant poise and grace that made her totally believable as "that girl" that made Cage's character fall so incredibly hard. The girl in this remake just doesn't have the sparkle and ease that Foreman had in spades. And they made yet another styling error by spackling on the very 2020-style heavy, layered makeup. That's nowhere close to the preppy-Val look, which was very clean and minimal. And the hair? That was merely 2010s-style barrel-rolls that every overly made-up girl and celebrity of that time, laden with pounds of extensions, thought was a throwback to the 70's/80's feathered look. It's not even close. That's another big style difference-80's girls never wore extensions, fake eyelashes, fake tans, or fake bolt-on breasts. A lean, natural body, a tan actually from being outside on a California beach, and healthy, natural hair was how us 80's girls did things. If you were a punk girl, you probably chopped your hair into a spiky asymmetrical wedge, and fiddled around with bleach and dyes.

I don't see the need to go on much more-this movie didn't need to be made. And whomever was in charge of the costume and makeup stylings really should have listened to someone who was actually around during that era.

I don't mind the musical format change. It doesn't bother me that the script was altered in key spots. The main area where this movie falls short is where the original movie succeeded. The music was skewed to the pop and completely ignored the punk music. There was a distinct line in the original of two sets of behaviors and music and this movie had both sides focus on the pop. Besides some wardrobe changes both sets of people acted the same.

The biggest fail here was a misunderstanding what a valley girl was and how she behaved. They threw some one liners in the movie, but completely MISSED the essence of the valley girl. These valley girls and boys acted like regular kids and threw in some period phrases and that is not even close.

I like some of the story changes and if they got the point of the original movie and did some research on valley speak and act, it would have been good.

This movie accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, it is strictly for light entertainment with 30-ish actors playing high school teens. There is ample musical numbers throughout, the singers are passable but not particularly talented. It is just an interesting movie with 1980s music and anyone who doesn't particularly enjoy musicals should avoid this movie.

It is told as one long flashback with Alicia Silverstone (uncredited) telling her 1980s story to her own teen daughter. I found it on Amazon streaming movies.