Valley Girl

I was born a year after this movie came out, so I couldn't relate to it right when it came out.

I just recently saw Valley Girl a few days ago on the WE channel. I thought it was an interesting movie... Many people say the slang is outdated, but I don't know how many times I've heard someone say that something was "rad" or "awesome" or if someone was "getting laid."

Sure, the characters are vapid and shallow. They're like, from the valley, like, you know? I loved the characters of Fred and Randy, especially. I know many boys that have the attitude Fred has.

Nicholas Cage was SUPERB as Randy. I just wish there were more guys like that character: a rough-and-tumble punk with a dopey grin.

I've got to say, any movie that makes me giggle from the style and makes even Nicholas Cage adorable (Keep in mind that I come from his "action movie only era") rocks.

The teen movie of my generation is *not* "Valley Girl"-- it's "Clueless". I can hardly recall Bush's presidency much less Reagan's. My earliest recollection of fashion magazines does not include sun-tanned celebrities with feathered hair but rather pale, flannel-wrapped grunge girls. However, I do know enough about the valley girl phenomenon: the talk, the style of dress, the malls and gallerias, the hippy parentage, the wholesomeness, the pastels..you know what I mean. So I wasn't completely detached when I saw the movie.

So now to what I thought of it: I really really liked this movie. I even bought the video.

I think growing up surrounded by the GenX mumbo jumbo made me appreciate this light-hearted flick. It's a nice love story, kind of like a watered down Romeo and Juliet. The acting may not have been good enough for Shakespeare, but it's a movie, so it's perfectly fine that these people are "actors" and not melodramatic "thespians". Also the script was just right; it wasn't too phony, it had a sense of humor.. Examples would be Randy and his friend's visit to the valley party. The bathroom scene was ticklish.

Randy's depression and Julie's frustration and heart-to-heart with her dad were parts of the movie that didn't disappoint. In other movies of this kind the actors are often unable to carry their characters from one emotional situation to the next, and they end up making themselves unpleasantly flat. Randy and Julie have appropriate sincerity--remember, they're playing two young kids in love. The dreamy, whimsical quality of the movie fits just right.

In conclusion, this is a wonderful, timeless movie. Though the time in which it is set plays a major role in the movie, the essential love story is timeless. The great thing about this movie is that it uses a *very* common theme but still comes out fresh and affective. Even for younger viewers like me, who didn't grow up in the 80s, the movie can be just as endearing as it was to its first audiences.

It was 1983 and I was 13. I watched Valley Girl on HBO one night when my parents were working. After it ended I wanted to talk with someone about it immediately. Turns out my best friend watched it too and it became our favorite movie. Every weekend after that we watched it until we could recite it. We woke her parents up late at night laughing hysterically. We began to worship the main character, Julie, played by the beautiful Deborah Foreman. I am not saying this is a great classic. Although it is for me personally. And I understand that the whole Valley Girl talk becomes annoying but that was the 80's. But deep down at the heart of the movie-it is a love story, and a familiar but good one. Girl meets boy and there are sparks from both sides, an instant connection. Julie's friends don't like him-he doesn't fit in, doesn't go to their school, doesn't have money. They like her better with her ex-boyfriend the football player even though he is a jerk. She makes the ultimate sacrifice-her own happiness for her friends' happiness. And she has these really cool supportive hippie parents. It is one of Nicholas Cage's first movies and his first starring role. One minute he is absolutely hilarious and the next incredibly touching and romantic. His friend Fred is pretty funny too. If you were a teenager in the 80's you will love this movie or at the very least it will bring back memories. It is no longer my favorite movie but it is still one of my favorites, probably in my top 10. I am eagerly awaiting it's release on DVD if they ever release it. You can go to Deborah Foreman's website to sign a petition to get it released on DVD and there are 2 soundtracks from the movie that are must haves if you like 80's music.

In the tradition of "Romeo and Juliet," a punker named Randy (Nicholas Cage) begins a relationship with shallow teenage girl named Julie (Deborah Foreman), but peer pressure from her equally shallow friends forces her to break up and go back to her ex-boyfriend (Michael Bowen). Randy refuses to take this lying down and tries to get Julie back. Will he succeed?

Fine performances by Cage, Foreman, Frederick Forrest and Colleen Camp (as Julie's hippie parents), sensitive directing by Martha Coolidge, and totally tubular soundtrack by Modern English, The Plimsouls, and Men at Work (to name a few) makes this fun sleeper one of the best 80's teen comedies (fer shure).

My evaluation: *** out of ****

The first time I saw Valley Girl, I was bedridden and as sick as a dog, out of junior high school for two weeks with a nasty illness. I watched it on a tiny black and white set with the volume turned down to a whisper so my parents wouldn't hear and make me shut it off. I was mesmerized. It was a revelation. Martha Coolidge's milking of the Romeo and Juliet premise (with Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman filling in as star-crossed lovers in the San Fernando Valley) was smart and convincing. I was amazed by the hot "Val" chicks. I was thrilled by the interesting vocabulary words. I wanted to be like Cage's tough Randy and fall in love with a beautiful girl like Foreman's Julie to the sounds of Eddie Grant, Modern English, and The Plimsouls.