Calendar Girl

I have seen this as it has been on HBO non stop lately. I think the writing and acting is good. It seems innocent enough. However, it seems a little strange as well. It is about three boys who worship Marilyn Monroe and even keep pictures of her in the "Holy Bible." They take a road trip to go meet Marilyn and continue to bother her at home until one gets a date with her. Seems like they had a little too much time on their hands. I have advice for the three boys: grab a dictionary and look up the word "pathetic." I give it a 6 out of 10. Could have done without the stalking stuff as that is what made it strange to me. Otherwise, it was pretty good.

A routine but pleasant comedy about three best friends (Jason Priestley, Gabriel Olds, Jerry O'Connell) who are obsessed with Marilyn Monroe. They pool their resources to plan a road trip to meet their idol. Film is set in 1962 and uses good attention to period detail and music.

Priestley tries to bring that handsome charm from the small screen to the big screen in this dull fantasy about three high school grads who fulfill their dream date with Marilyn Monroe in 1962 Hollywood. Priestley is a capable young actor, but he needs better scripts than this.

Jason Priestley as box office draw? Get real! If his "career" hadn't already been dead, this "effort" definitely would have killed it.

The story here is that of three childhood buddies and their infatuation with Marilyn Monroe, told in flash backs. Nice 1950s & 60s "Americana", complete with golden oldie tunes, fashions, movie clips, cars and other period gimmicks. Other than the "time travel" perks, there's not much to see.

A perpetually cigarette-smoking, baby-faced Priestly becomes annoying. The "tough guy" image of his character reminds us of the equally unbelievable Prince in "Purple Rain". This is no "Stand By Me", so be prepared for a disappointment.

Three friends grow up worshipping Marilyn Monroe. When they are in their late teens they decide to drive out to Hollywood to meet her. Roy, Ned and Scott head off a week before Roy is due to join the army. They stay with Roy's uncle Harvey and begin their quest, however Roy has borrowed mobster money and his fathers car for the trip and before long the Gallo brothers come looking for their cash.

As I sat to watch this, it did cross my mind that I didn't really need to watch another coming of age movie set in the 50's and 60's. However I thought the premise was interesting enough to justify the time. However the film fails to use the idea of the quest to meet Monroe to raise anything more than a few laughs. We also have to deal with the usual subplots of teenage angst, girls, sex, anger at father etc, these take even more of the comedy away leaving a so-so comedy with bits of drama forced in.

The characters are standard – Priestly plays the cocky one, Olds plays the thoughtful one and O'Connell plays the shy, cowardly one. The only interest is provided by the support cast - Pantoliano is good as Roy's uncle with a typically Hollywood obsession with looks and Tobolowsky and Fuller provide the only quirky characters as the Gallo's. The idea of Monroe as the holy grail would have worked better if the film didn't try to have her as a shadow but also use her – her memory is badly used here.

Overall this has some funny scenes but not enough to justify the film. The coming of age drama doesn't really work and I think we've all got the `seize the day' message by now. Average.