La Boum américaine

Rated R for Language and Sexual Content

Going Steady aka Lemon Popsicle 2 is the sequel to the 1978 Isreali film Lemon Popsicle.As of October 28 2007, the first three lemon popsicles are available to watch on youtube dubbed in English and the fourth one is coming soon.The original Lemon Popsicle was remade in the United States as The Last American Virgin which I have yet to see.Anyway Going Steady is better than the first film in my opinion.The first film had some funny parts but it was mostly depressing(especially the ending).The sequel is much funnier but also has plenty of drama as well.One problem I have with the sequel was that it never explains how Benji and Bobby became friends again.After the events of the first film, I would think that their friendship was over but the second film shows them as friends as if none of the events of the first film happened.That's my only problem with this sequel.The film is about three friends in the late 50's or early 60's and their misadventures with sex.If you like teen sex comedies, I suggest looking for the Lemon Popsicle series.

"Going Steady", as it's called here in North America, is actually the second entry in the Israeli "Lemon Popsicle" film series. I have seen several other entries in the series before this one, and I think I can safely say it's one of the lesser entries. The movie is not without merit. There is a great soundtrack of '50s hit songs (how was this low budget movie able to afford all of them?), the period detail is acceptable for the most part, and while the cast is too old to be playing teenagers, they do bring in some instant likability. Which is good, because some of the characters engage in some really cruel and selfish behavior, which taints the movie significantly. A bigger problem with the movie, however, is that the movie has little plot, and seems content to frequently spin its wheels for a long time. That might have been forgive had the movie been funny, but it isn't - the comic situations are lame and predictable. How this disappointing movie didn't finish the series right there is beyond me - maybe something got lost in the translation to English in the dubbing room.

Dreary. Dull. Devoid of any real merit. That is just for starters. Yotzim Kavua, a film I saw under the pretense of Going Steady, was an experience to sit through. First, let me explain how I came to watch it. I bought a 50 movie pack from Mill Creek Entertainment as I like bad movies that can be fun to watch. Some are entertaining as so-bad-its-good types, some are much better than one might imagine, and then there is the third group - those which are painful to sit through and induce a catatonic stare 15 or so minutes into them. Going Steady wasn't that bad, but it really has nothing going for it as far as I am concerned. I didn't know anything about it prior to seeing it. It is a sequel in itself and had at least three or four more sequels after it. Really? This was a sequel and had more sequels? It was produced and made in Israel and is spoken in Yiddish(I think). Sophomoric tales of kids trying to get tail are that popular in Israel? Who'd have thunk it. Anyway, the acting is not horrible just not inspiring. The jokes are along the vein of what you would find in Porky's or American Pie and other crap like that. I can't say I fell in like with anything in the film, but for what it was trying to be I guess(I know by its future successes) it must have achieved them. I am not going to write about the director and actors as I am not familiar with any of them. One thing I did find interesting is that it does offer a window into life in another culture and country. That is always something I find interesting, but beyond that seeing one distasteful scenario after another, a fat boy wedged out a window, and the typical high school pranks that mark adolescence supposedly are not the stuff my dreams are made of.

"Going Steady" is the second film in the Lemon Popsicle, and is really just more of the same. This time it is less emotive than the first Popsicle movie - who could forget that ending - but is also too good natured to dislike, unlike all of the sex comedies of the next decade, which were just flat out sleazy and nasty.

Like the original film it benefits from the presence of Yiftach Katzur in the lead role of Benji who is charismatic. The same can't be said for his knucklehead friends, ie. The guy his girl went off with in the first movie (Momo) and the fat guy, Yudale. These guys make no impression in this movie either. The movie also benefits from female talent with the two actresses playing the boys' love interests this time round, though none as showstopping as Avat Atzmon was in the first movie.

This film is, doubtlessly, pretty forgettable, as all the Lemon Popsicle flicks probably are. Not sure I can be bothered watching them all. At least it was entertaining. Too bad all these movies never got a better release than VHS, apparently. Even the DVD releases are VHS quality. No doubt this is because, like the first film, "Going Steady" is wall-to-wall with iconic '50s music that the producers used illegally.

The main problem I had with the Israeli-made Lemon Popsicle-and its American remake The Last American Virgin-was that despite Benji in Popsicle and Gary in Virgin having a big crush on Nikki/Karen, he still went out with his friends to have sexual encounters with other women. So it's just as well that this sequel to Popsicle basically ignored pretty much all the events from its predecessor since here, their characterizations are a lot more consistent. This time, Benji's got the hots for a girl named Tammy, Bobby's going out with Shelly, and Huey's girl here is Martha who was in the last one as the best friend of Nikki who's nowhere to be seen this time. As before, Martha actually likes Benji and even tries to make the moves on him this time when Benji and Tammy have a fight. I'll stop there and just say because of the more consistent characterizations, I found myself laughing more than its predecessor got me to do and I also liked the way things went on sequentially especially the end which wasn't a sad one like the last one. Though I have a feeling Tammy will be gone by the next installment of the Lemon Popsicle series but for now if there's an entry that I feel works best for me right now, it's this one. So that's my recommendation of Going Steady.