Catch Me If You Can

Wow! I remember so many awful films that loosely revolved around high school from the early 1980s. They usually had someincredibly strained plot and lots of 27 year old actors pretending to be students. As I watched this film I felt a little of the nostalgia of growing up in the 1980s. However, then I find out that this film was made in 1989? Say what! Well, the nostalgia factor ends right there, this is just bad. The plot has the city preparing to close a high school and threatening to bus all of the students to inner city high schools. Which is odd, in that the students at this school are both wealthy and abundant. In fact, the main character lives in a mansion. Makes you wonder how they cannot find money to keep this school alive, have they never heard of property taxes. Oh, but here is the kicker. The school board says that they will keep the school alive, if the students can raise $200,000. So the seniors go about doing this. Hmmm, you raise $200,000 but instead of saving that for college, you put it towards saving the high school that you are a Senior in? And why exactly would they close an overpopulated school before the year is out? And...ahh forget it, this film was stupid and made in 1989!?

But you certainly dont have to be a 1980's era high schooler to enjoy this flick. Filmed on a small budget in Minnesota for only $800k, it has a fairly polished, quality feel. Sure, it's a clumsy plot, but that's not why we're here, right? Good acting from the leads, REAL car chases (no digital fakery) and some clever comic bits all help to make this movie a hidden gem. And you get authentic, Midwest 80's... so be sure to pause on the "mall hair" at the high school gym rally, when hairspray ruled the world!

Its obvious that Hollywood took notice of Stephen Sommers directing chops for this little known picture (thank goodness, because it had catastrophic distribution issues in the US) Apparently these issues were not an issue overseas, where it took in $7 million. After this, he was cherry picked by the big studios and has had quite the career. So grab some popcorn, fire up your big screen, and enjoy a classic time travelin' romp back to 1989.

Not Bad Really, a lot of great Hot Rods and some fast Drag Racing as well. The Sound Track was good and the drag racing was excellent. I liked the way they brought back Fast Eddie from hiding from under the High School Football Field from years ago and dispelled the myth.

This film has been receiving a lot of play lately during the day on either HBO or Cinemax. The reason is that they are assuming people would be interested in comparing it to the Leonardo DiCaprio/Tom Hanks caper of the same name. The only reason to see it is for the attractive Matt Lattanzi. Yum! Although I must say Matt was more than a little long in the tooth to be playing a high schooler. If he were a woman, they'd have had him playing the MOTHER of a high schooler! (Is is just me, or is his daughter starting to look like Shelley Duvall?) Oh yeah, the plot--who cares? Typical teen highjinx played by adults.

A funky little film that was the first effort by "Mummy" director Stephen Sommers. Cliched, unbelievable plot is played in a light-hearted manner by leads Matt Lattanzi (My Tutor) and Loryn Locklin. Co-star Grant Heslov later had a major role in "Congo", while veteran character actors M. Emmett Walsh and Geoffrey Lewis are recognizable from various roles in other films. Somewhat of an ode to director Sommers' hometown of St. Cloud, MN, the film's plot involves high-school kids trying to raise money for their school through illegal road races. Yeah, right. The film is helped by a great soundtrack of 50's & 60's teenybopper staples, and by the fact that none of the major players take themselves too seriously. Trivia alert: Matt Lattanzi is the ex-husband of Australian songstress Olivia Newton-John. Oh, and by the way, being that this was filmed in St. Cloud, yours truly has a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo in one of the football scenes' crowd shots. (As if anybody CARES, I'm wearing a red winter jacket and ski mask.)