Oxford Blues

Before seeing it, you might paint this movie off as another sex comedy or typical Rob Lowe comedy. I first saw this film in early 2012, 26 years after it's release, and honestly, I could of kicked myself for not seeing it sooner. This movie is more than what you expect, as you think it's just gonna be another comedy, where Rob Lowe is just gonna take the mickey out of this fraternity, what have you but boy, I was blindsided. Lowe plays a sexy selfish hustler, Nick D' Angelo, who cons his way into Oxford, as falling head over heels, with the beautiful Pays, who has proved herself to be a really good actress. Her character, Lady Victoria, is to wed, fine upstanding scholar (Julian Sands) who of course, envious Lowe rages war with. He makes friends with a young nerdy student, a familiar Scum face from years back, and another American girl, Sheedy, who of course, falls for the rejecting Lowe. Lowe is fun to watch, where it's his character which sells the movie, as he really learn's life's hard lessons, that it's give and take, and by the end, becomes a much better person. Why it's not Lowe's best performance, where some will find him inadequate, he does give the character enough clout and pep, and does make us acknowledge, deep down, he's not a happy and fulfilled guy, and Pays is the answer to his problems, his void. With Sheedy's character, I thought she was quite good, but where she fitted into the film, seemed as just some actress that was tagging or wasn't utilized properly in this. Better performances came from Bruce Payne who invites Nick, a fantastic rower onto the rowing team, after an impressive and ballsy move, where too Cary Elwes was hardly recognizable, and using an English accent, I could not believe this very versatile actor was him, as he plays a nasty pasty, and not one of Lowe's favorite admirers. Michael Gough, and Alan Howard (The Cook, The Thief) and some more of the faculty players, give the best performances, the late Gough, a splendid English actor, of course shining, while Howard was really good too. Peter "May'be you prefer a Black Russian?" Jason, with a meagre, if almost non existent part, at the start, as Lowe's father, was very memorable. I cannot believe this has a 5.2 rating. I've seen the movie a couple of times, and I love it, every time, I see it. It's more than just a Brat Pack, teen, "get your pants off" comedy, and this film may very well surprise you. It deserves higher praise, and warrants definite viewing. Go Oxford.

During his career Rob Lowe has been compared as the Brat Pack throwback to some of the matinée idols of the Studio era. That comparison was sealed when he did Oxford Blues a more suggestive remake of the MGM classic A Yank At Oxford which did so well for Robert Taylor back in the day.

The same basic plot is retained for Oxford Blues from the original film. Rob with a little help from computer hacker brother Chad in an unbilled part, gets himself a transfer from the University of Nevada to matriculate. Funds for the trip and the tuition is won at the Las Vegas crap tables. And Rob even gets a Ferrari, courtesy of divorcée Gail Strickland, most satisfied with the extras that Rob provides for her when he's not parking cars. Stuff back in the day MGM would not show with Robert Taylor.

If you thought Taylor was a fish out of water at Oxford back in the Thirties, he's nothing compared to Lowe here. Oxford is a place steeped in tradition and Lowe's casual attitude really irks a lot of people from head man Michael Gough on down.

Worse than that he's got a casual attitude towards his sport of rowing. There even in their suits and gowns, the rowers are the jocks that rule in that place.

Though there are certain things that don't change. When Lowe is challenged to a 'sconcing' contest, he knows what chugfest is all about.

Like in the original Rob's caught between two women, matriculating student Ally Sheedy, fellow brat packer from America and Lady Amanda Pays who's well known nobility who occasionally winds up on the gossip pages. She's got a fiancé in the person of Julian Sands, but that doesn't deter Lowe one bit.

Another good role in Oxford Blues is that of Julian Firth who plays Lowe's roommate and a person who is in some wonder of Lowe's casual American ways. Farther down the cast list in a minor part as another Oxford student is Cary Elwes who would be a movie name in a couple of years.

Like the previous film when MGM filmed A Yank At Oxford on location there, Oxford Blues is also filmed at Oxford and I must say the place doesn't look like it changed much in almost fifty years. Then again a place steeped in tradition like Oxford isn't expected to change. Not even for Rob Lowe.

As for Rob himself, he carries off the part of Nick DeAngelo in the best hero/heel tradition of that other matinée idol of yore, Tyrone Power.

What most impresses me about this movie and a few others from the 80's

like Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire is how they lack all the brash,

rude and obnoxiousness found in movies today! The young generation of

that time ( and every young person has thier time) didn't fill the

screen with crude language and remarks degrading to each other. In this

movie they still had enough good sense to not curse like uneducated

heathens! Seems like all the movies today just seem to fill the screen with one

F**k and a$$hole and sheeet and every other imaginable word you could

use just to see how many they can say in 90 minutes! It surely is a time gone by and perhaps we do live in a world that is

more realistic and streetwise, but it sure isn't going to make the world

a better place throwing obsceneties it in our face all the time! Oxford Blues was refreshing because it had some class even though it was

a simple plot and a simple movie. And Rob Lowe was one heck of a goodlooking

Back in the day, Rob Lowe was devoid of talent (as were many of the notorious Brat Pack members) but had that certain something that made people (mostly teens) want more. He was a very marketable commodity at the time, so what better role to give him than something that has already been done (i.e. little money spent writing, pre-production as possible before his fame expires as we all remember it did in the form of a threesome with two underage girls).

He can't act like Meryl Streep but he can deliver lines adequately and professionally; he is not so horrible that it is not watchable, and the story line is cute. Overall not an oscar winner but watchable. Some of his Brat Pack friends had big hits with their solo movies such as Ally Sheedy in Short Circuit, Emilio Estevez in Young Guns, etc.

This is an excellent film with fine acting throughout. While the initial plotline might be slightly unlikely, the interactions of the main character while at Oxford are the real point of the movie, despite his initial reason. It is interesting througout the movie with a variety of well-rounded characters. The movie is well balanced between the action and excitement of the competitive scenes with the drama and romance at the heart of the story.