The next John Hughes movie that I’m watching for #Johnuary is Some Kind of Wonderful. To be honest I had chosen to skip this one, as I had to limit how many movies I could fit into the time I had, and this was the film that I heard the least about. But over the last couple of days I’ve heard a few people mention that they really love this movie, so I managed to find some time tonight to add it in, and push back John Williams week to start on Tuesday instead.
Supposedly Hughes wasn’t happy with the ending of Pretty in Pink and so he basically wanted to remake it. Only a year after the first movie as well. It’s basically a gender-swapped Pretty in Pink. He even asked Howard Deutsch to direct it again. He also wanted Molly Ringwald in the lead role again, which I think would have actually made it too similar, but Ringwald didn’t want to do it anyway (and Hughes didn’t take that well). Lea Thompson had originally refused the role but after Howard the Duck flopped she took it.
Here are my real time thoughts whilst watching this film.
- Pretty powerful opening sequence. Strong music and Eric Stoltz playing chicken with a train
- As a married man with two kids I’m not ashamed to say that Eric Stoltz is a good looking guy in this movie.
- Garbage Pail Kids in the first scene of the movie!
- John Ashton from Beverly Hills Cop is the dad. Love him
- It’s an awesome mini that Mary Stuart Masterson drives
- Interestingly I read that John Hughes named the three main characters after the Rolling Stones. Keith Nelson, Watts (apt for a drummer) and Amanda Jones
- The scene with the kiss in the garage is obviously a big scene in the movie. I felt the music they chose for it was a bit strange though.
- I spotted the restaurant Maitre D from Ferris Bueller is one of the guys playing dice with Watts in the alley.
- I think Eric Stoltz really made this film. It made me really want to watch the Back to the Future footage with Stolz as Marty McFly. He does play things quite cool and mellow, which I guess wasn’t right for the McFly role but I think there’s something about him that is extremely watchable.
- I did really enjoy some of the drumming scenes and how they matched up with the cool soundtrack
- The father / son scene is one of the best scenes in the movie. Another great example of Hughes not just going down the standard route of parents not understanding their troubled teens, but instead actually having meaningful dialogue and building relationships. I like that.
- Great when the skinhead guy gatecrashes the party.
- I really didn’t get how Amanda somehow ‘knew’ that Keith actually wanted to be with Watts. I just didn’t quite get that vibe myself. It all happened a bit too quickly.
- I read that the director, Howard Deutch, fell in love with Lea Thompson on the set of the movie (who wouldn’t) and they got married and are still happily married now. Awww.
This film didn’t quite click for me. I felt the plot seemed to jump around a bit and make assumptions and leaps that didn’t quite flow. I also thought the directing wasn’t as good as Pretty in Pink, and while Eric Stoltz’ acting was great I didn’t really feel a connection to any of the other actors. Some people really rate this movie, and that’s cool, but it just didn’t personally click with me.
