California Girls

This comedy movie has an all star cast which is why it is puzzling that it is not available anywhere on video, DVD and/or Blu-Ray. It is a great comedy displaying the stereotype between the laid-back style of the California West to the fast-paced style of the New Jersey/ NY East. When Robbie Benson goes out to L.A. to meet the girl of his dreams, he has all the preconceived notions of what it will be like and find in California. It is a very funny and enjoyable movie to watch. It stars Robbie Benson, Tawny Kitaen, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Martin Mull, Doris Roberts who plays the mom in the show Everybody Loves Raymond. Will some movie studio PLEASE put this out on DVD.

It's been almost 30 years, hard to believe, but for some reason the movie and plot really stuck with me since I saw it on TV at the age of 12. I was just entering puberty then, so maybe my fond and some distinct memories of it probably have something to do with that.

First - the official synopsis here and on Wiki is not what I remember of the movie. For example, I don't recall that the main character was looking for a particular girl in California, nor do I remember him having a girlfriend back home. But the other two reviewers before me describe what I remember. Here's what I can add:

The main character arrives in California in search of a better life and shortly after leaving the airport, he gets into an accident with a very attractive and glamorous California girl, the kind that inspired the song. The girl is distraught over the body damage -- maybe it wasn't her car -- and because the guy is a mechanic, he offers to come over to her place to fix it over the course of the days that followed. From that chance encounter, a relationship ensues. I don't recall the various other subplots.

Near the end of the movie, he wakes up and it is revealed to viewers that it was all his dream. He gets out of bed to catch his flight and arrives in California, but this time it's raining and dreary out and nothing is as glamorous as they were in his dream. The movie ends right after he crosses paths with a less glamorous but otherwise attractive and more likable girl he had met in his dream version of his California trip. He says hello, and the movie ends, leaving the rest to everyone's imagination.

Pretty silly plot, I gave it a 6, but I'd love to catch it again for the nostalgia.

The complete movie is available on YouTube in fairly decent quality picture and sound come although there are some YouTube channels showing the whole movie in really old crappy VHS quality and sound, which goes along with one of them that included all the commercials of all the crappy cars that were being sold in this country in the mid 1980s. That one's a real time capsule; watch the movie on old 12 inch CRT TV.

Besides the light comedy, there's a deeper message of the idyllic image of Southern California sold to all of us during the 1960s, with the bikini cloud girls on the beach and the beach boys singing surfing songs against the reality of it being a tough place to make it. That was captured in songs like "do you know the way to San Jose" by Dionne Warwick and" they say it never rains in southern California"

Overall this is a really enjoyable movie made in better times as opposed to television in streaming services today which focus almost entirely on bad people committing crimes and doing really bad things.

I'm surprised nobody has reviewed this one. First post, I'll try to make it good. (Brief Story Line) Robbie Benson plays a young kid in search of a better life and better weather in California. Before his flight he falls asleep and dreams the perfect California dream. When he finally arrives, he finds the West coast a lot colder than in his dreams. Not the weather, the people. Near the end a tiny bright spot appears in that he sees a girl who appeared in his dream previously. A nice all around good film. Doesn't seem to be available anywhere but if it pops up on TV, give it a look. As Always, Martin Mull is fabulous as the selfish con-man. This film makes you really feel for the "nice guy".

I guess getting old is putting holes in my memory. I thought it was called "California Dreaming" or similar. I see on the art it also says "California Dreams", maybe it was called something else when it aired. Anyway. I was an impressionable 19 year old in 1985, living in a small town in Kansas. I saw this show and it inspired me to join the Air Force the very next day, as a way to get out of my routine. I'm sure I don't recall production quality or acting, but it did have an impact on my life as motivation to make a change.