I'll start by saying this film is not the terrible bomb that many people say it is. For the most part its watchable, and at least the first hour is fairly interesting. Its in the final scenes (taking place in New York City) where the film completely loses its way and falls flat on its face. The story deals with teen-aged lovers whose affair is too hot for their families to handle, and some bad decisions ruin everyone's lives. Apparently the novel this is based on is well-thought of, and the film strays far from it in terms of story construction. The young man in question is named David. He is a senior in high school and played by some guy named Martin Hewitt. His performance isn't bad at all. In fact, the acting is generally fine by all involved. Except Cruise, but he was just starting out. So was James Spader, and his character is made out to be an A-hole. Brooke Shields is Jade, a fifteen year old who loves David as much as he loves her. David's self-absorbed parents never really meet Jade, as they are often over at her house. At first David seems to be like one of the family at Jade's place. A guy destined to one day be their in-law. But when the intensity of their love affair becomes a disruption to her family, David is quickly scorned by her father and brother. He is forbidden to see Jade for the last month of the school year. That's when things take a terrible turn. David makes a huge mistake and things are never the same for anyone again. He is institutionalized and forbidden to ever see Jade again. Will these two lovers be separated forever?? Go ahead and see for yourself. Maybe you will be able to figure out the last half hour better than I could.
The setup, being the portion of the film leading up to the house fire, is good. I was interested in these characters. Jade's would-be hip father who is proven to be a fraud when he begins to feel jealous of his daughter's love and his wife's wandering eye, is quite memorable. We don't seem to learn as much about David's parents, other than they seem to be Jewish and also Socialists. Maybe his father was supposed to be an attorney, if I recall. Brooke Shields is just freaking gorgeous in this movie. Maybe even more so than in The Blue Lagoon. And she doesn't embarrass herself in the acting department, too. Its just too bad they didn't know what to do with these characters in the last half hour. The film is so oddly constructed towards the end, that its hard to tell if what we see is actually happening, or is it just a fantasy had by David while hes rotting away in jail. The title song is very nice, though. 5 of 10 stars.
The Hound.
The setup, being the portion of the film leading up to the house fire, is good. I was interested in these characters. Jade's would-be hip father who is proven to be a fraud when he begins to feel jealous of his daughter's love and his wife's wandering eye, is quite memorable. We don't seem to learn as much about David's parents, other than they seem to be Jewish and also Socialists. Maybe his father was supposed to be an attorney, if I recall. Brooke Shields is just freaking gorgeous in this movie. Maybe even more so than in The Blue Lagoon. And she doesn't embarrass herself in the acting department, too. Its just too bad they didn't know what to do with these characters in the last half hour. The film is so oddly constructed towards the end, that its hard to tell if what we see is actually happening, or is it just a fantasy had by David while hes rotting away in jail. The title song is very nice, though. 5 of 10 stars.
The Hound.