fishx-1
Joined Aug 2009
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Reviews2
fishx-1's rating
Lovelines is by no means deserves a reputation as the worst teen film of the '80s. It has some charm, particularly for '80s teen enthusiasts, and plenty of gaudy 1984 fashions, music, pop culture, footage of the Valley etc. It certainly isn't "Valley Girl" or "Fast Times.." but it is a worthy installment in the San Fernando Valley youth culture sub-genre. The plot is about the rivalry between Malibu High and Coldwater Canyon High with a Romeo & Juliet-like romance. Best of all is the movie's bad "rock" music concerning a battle of the bands with a hilariously awful all girl group and a rock band from the Valley. There's also a ridiculous costume party scene. It probably doesn't help that lead Greg Bradford was almost 30 playing a high school rocker, while director Rod Amateau (Garbage Pail Kids) was well in his 60s and far from knowing what was hip at the time. Mary Beth Evens and the very talented Michael Winslow actually fair quite well and the film is a well produced Tri-Star studio release. But either way the shortcomings add to the movie's cheese value, and it certainly is much less painful than dozens of other low budget, less professionally made teen films that swamped video stores in the '80s. These bad reviews for Lovelines probably comes from people who have only seen John Hughes and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Beach House unquestionably has a distinctive East Coast vibe as compared to most teen-beach-T&A films from the late '70s thru the '80s which have the obvious So-Cal West Coast youth milieu. These South Philly and Brooklyn characters are fairly realistic and a welcomed change of pace for this type of film. And of course, there really are not enough films shot at the Jersey Shore. As stated by other reviews here, the characters really grow on you. Additionally, after living through absolute crap such as reality shows like The Jersey Shore, Beach House is now completely charming, and frankly, much more realistic. The amateur actors are so realistic it almost seems like a reality show filmed in a traditional manner. Beach House also avoids an unnecessary mean vibe which many beach-teen films did not purely out of lazy writing. The sub plot of a sexual predator was a good idea for a climactic scene. This films is really just a good independent film more than a traditional T&A-teen film. But Indy films wouldn't be truly welcomed or popular for at least 10 years from then. Kudos to 21 year old writer-producer Marino Amoruso.