Satisfaction: No Amor e no Rock

Not a good film by any stretch of the imagination. The storyline is a shocker and the acting is, at times, quite bad. However, seeing Julia Roberts and Liam Neeson in early roles before they were big stars makes it worthwhile. The one redeeming feature about this mess is the dog! He is so cute! But Justine Bateman is just awful, can't sing, can't act and can't talk properly. It's no wonder her big stardom has been confined to Family Ties.

The rock-loving teens in this movie don't seem to know anything about making music. We get no information about their musical backgrounds, and their idea of jamming is to feign a version of "Iko Iko" while driving in their stolen van (I say 'feign' because the sound of their unison vocals is distinctly studio-enhanced). There's one guy in the otherwise all-girl band, and they make him sleep behind a sheet--out of modesty?--and yet the girls themselves are sexually active and think nothing of having sex in that van until the damn thing just about topples over. The movie wants to have it both ways: be a modern look at streetwise teens and yet also be an old-fashioned musical. Justine Bateman works hard in the leading role, but she seems to suffocate under the plastic handling; newcomer Julia Roberts shows off a nice sense of sarcastic humor, but the movie is an underachiever, with oldies-rock tunes given '80s makeovers that wouldn't pass muster on Star Search. ** from ****

I haven't seen this in ages but I can tell you, as a teen I watched it over and over and over. I'm not sure how it would hold up to new viewers, though. It's a really fun film about a girl band trying to "make it" and facing all the dilemmas that can pop up when a bands just starting to get a feel for themselves and their music. Each member has a unique personality that really meshes in a fun way. I hope they issue this one out on DVD at some point because I'll be first in line to purchase.

So this is not one of the best movies from the '80s, but it made a big impact on me because of Julia Roberts. I thought she was so cool, and I copied a lot of my fashion styles after her character in the movie (big hair and all). Being a child of the '80s I've been slowly collecting many of the classic comedies, and this one has been on my list for a while. So when I discovered last month that it was finally coming out on DVD and at a great price, I pre-ordered my copy. It has some really good moments and good one-liners, like when Julia Roberts' character, Daryle is told by one of the preppy guys she's seeing "You're different from the other girls", she responds "I can work really hard to be the same", or when Daryle is explaining to Billy that getting married is a natural thing, Billy responds "Dying is natural too, but you don't see people rushing to do that". So if you want to take a trip back to the '80s or if you're a Julia Roberts fan, this movie is for you.

Most of it was filmed in Isle of Palms, S.C. I should know, not only was I there, but I was in the movie......