Hello baby

In spite of the negative review above I would say this is a good film and a story that may hang around in your mind for a long time. It isn't so much a "movie story," a la Meg Ryan romantic comedy type, as it is a slice of life. The characters in this movie are much more like the people you went to high school and college with than they are like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan! Life is messy and confusing and people change. People are attracted to the wrong people all the time. They make bad choices. They do things they can never forget. This movie reflects these human foibles and that is why it is a great small movie that got overlooked and under-appreciated.

This is an early picture by the inimitable John Sayles -- a portrait of Trenton some time in the mid-1960s through the eyes of the Rosanna Arquette, a middle-class aspiring actress who wants to go to Sarah Lawrence and Vincent Spano, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks. It looks like it was sold to the suits at Paramount on his writing ability and the rising tide of John-Landis-style teen comedies. Looking back from a third of a century later, I can see the complexity of story-telling, in the banal "bad-boy-good-girl" love story in a world that was about to vanish, as an act of satire... rendered a bit toothless, alas by its separation from the moment and the cluelessness of the characters. It makes them more real. Sayles' targets are too numerous here for accuracy.

This is definitely one of my favorite romantic films. It's well acted, well written and well directed. Arquette and Spano's chemistry is wonderful. With the people I've talked to who have seen this film, there seems to be something personal that they can relate to the story. It's definitely not a happy movie, but I think that's what makes it really stick with you. It's starts out somewhat like a period romance you might have seen before. About midway through it takes a turn and may seem to lose momentum. This is what sets it apart from other romances. It has this unpredictability to it that some people might find unsatisfying. I have seen it several times and each viewing is fascinating. It is very rare that such a bittersweet marvel of a film comes along and even rarer that it gets the attention it deserves. One of John Sayles' finest.

After finally getting a VHS copy of this film, I find it is ranked right up there with my all-time favorites. Perhaps you had to have lived in that time, or attended a big-city high school or just be an incurable romantic to relate.

Even though this film is 23 years old, the emotions, settings and tragedies of young, rudder-less love are universal and timeless. Is there any among we female viewers who has not either had or wanted to have a "Sheik" type pursue you? Dangerous, enigmatic and probably a big no-no, but extremely intriguing.

The film has many subtle nuances that younger audiences my not recognize since the scenes are not thrown at the viewer in quick-time, but the gentle, heart-wrenching moments with the main characters tend to stick in your mind. I will never listen to "Strangers in the Night" again without thinking of the two dance scenes and the emotions they evoke.

Spano and Arquette are outstanding as the two star-crossed leads and the acting is both understated and powerful in the same moment. When Jill tells Shiek she just doesn't love him in the dorm scene and he backs up and with a whipped look on his face asks, "why not?", his character is stripped of all pretenses.

Shop around for this video, as it is film making with heart like you don't find very often in the current film catalogs. Watch and remember and weep a little for what was and never could be.

"Baby, It's You" is a love story about a young woman named Jill (Rosanna Arquette), who grows up in New Jersey during the sixties and meets a troubled and troublesome swindler named Sheik (Vincent Spano). They go out together during highschool but once college days come, Jill forgets Sheik and he becomes a Frank Sinatra impersonator for a fancy restaurant in Miami. But after he is booted from the joint and drives all the way back to New Jersey to be with her, she admits she no longer has feelings for him.

Movies like this can be a bit hard to review because on a technical level they are worthless. Sometimes, though, the film itself is fun to watch--I am a sucker for old eighties comedies, the decade of low-budget comedies that disappeared into a vault somewhere and air on television at three o'clock in the morning. "Baby, It's You," however, isn't even that fun to watch, mainly because it goes nowhere for its two-hour running time. Sure, it kept my interest, and there's no doubt that it is a pretty intriguing film, but it's been done before in a better fashion--and all in all, "Baby, It's You" likes to repeat itself. A lot.

Things don't move nearly as quickly as they should. The setup for the movie takes forever--and then we find out the setup wasn't a setup at all. I left wondering, What IS the point of this movie? The core message is pretty simple--a lovebird couple seperate when college comes around and one of them loses the attraction for the other. But "Baby, It's You" doesn't do this like it should--it takes side routes into too many subplots. For example, at first Jill hates Sheik. Then she goes out with him. Then she breaks up with him. Then he kidnaps her, holds a gun to her head and tells her to say she's sorry. Then they're back together. Then Sheik commits a robbery and almost gets caught. Then they seperate. Then...

What is the point? Why the stupid subplots? Why would Jill love a ruthless punk who stalks and kidnaps her? This is a depressing movie, not because of what happens, but simply because it goes nowhere. "Baby, It's You" is strangely intriguing, but as a film it should have gone through a much greater thought process before they decided to put it on the big screen. After all, there is a reason that it is one of the most unknown films of all time.

I did find some things in "Baby, It's You" interesting, such as how Sheik corrupts Jill, but then when he turns around to be with her again, she acts like he did early on in the film. For example: Sheik is a rich playboy criminal in the beginning who cheats on Jill and so on and so forth. Jill doesn't want to "do it" with Sheik. But after college, she turns into the promiscuous one and he turns into the moral one. She becomes a drunk, depressed soul. Is that the point of the movie? That hanging around the wrong crowd can rub off on you? Or is the point that people who fall in love aren't always in love? Or is it just meant to be a depressing love story? Who cares. And I'm not stating that two-word sentence as a question.

2.5/5 stars.

• John Ulmer