moonspinner55 Review of Where the Boys Are

Where the Boys Are (1984)

"He could be an ax murderer!" .. "With that bod, I'll chance it!"

[3/10 · 1 April 2023]

1960's "Where the Boys Are" repainted as a girls-on-the-make fracas during Spring break in Ft. Lauderdale. These four would-be beach bunnies--on loan from a ski college--don't have in-depth conversations (such as arguing if the term for a rest stop cause is "pee-pee", "tinkle", "leak" or "piss"), but the bright, attractive cast and lively music almost makes up for the noodle-headed writing and directing. No one is out to split the atom here; the slick, silly movie has been put together solely to get randy teenagers feeling even randier. Producer Allan Carr liked to say his film was inspired by the comedy-drama of 1960--there's even a credit "suggested by the novel by Glendon Swarthout"--although this one is not officially a remake; however, it was plugged heavily as "Where the Boys Are '84" (Wikipedia still calls it that). One surely misses Connie Francis' soaring version of the Neil Sedaka-Howard Greenfield-penned title tune over Lisa Hartman's here, but comparing the two movies is a useless argument--frankly, the first film wasn't exactly Shakespeare either. *1/2 from ****