| Drama | MPAA:R |
Time magazine had an article that compared this video with Reality Bites, the purpose was to show how much better the Gen-X actors are than the Brat Pack. Of course, the author did take quite a few liberties in order to make his (or hers, I don't remember which) point: Demi Moore (who now gets 12,000,000 dollars to make a movie) and Tom Cruise (who also gets an unheard of amount of money for films) are written off as being Married with Children (never mind the fact that they're only a year or so older than Brad Pitt, who was included with the Gen-Xers). And though the author mentioned 16 Candles, he didn't mention Molly Ringwald (a charter member of the Brat Pack), mainly because she's only 3 years older than Winona Ryder (and 3 years younger than the previously mentioned Mr. Pitt). And while slamming many of the Brat Packers for having gone through rehab for various addictions, he failed to mention that Drew Barrymore has spent more time in rehab than the entire Brat Pack combined. All this, because he apparently didn't like St. Elmo's Fire.
The movie stars Andrew McCarthy (who, apart from those horrid Bernie movies, usually appears in very good films), Rob Lowe, Mare Winningham, Judd Nelson, Emelio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore (before she became old, fat, unattractive, and married with children), as a group in their early 20's, trying to get a start on their lives as respectable adults. Judd's into politics and sleeping around, and lives with Ally; Emelio is in graduate school, has a major crush on Andie MacDowell, and rooms with Andrew, who is hopelessly in love with Ally; Mare is a rich young daughter living at home, who does lots of charity work, and is hopelessly in love with Rob, who's a musician having big marital problems with his 'had to get married to' wife; Demi's into drugs and sleeping with her boss. Andrew knows Judd is sleeping around, but doesn't tell Ally. Ally finds out anyway, and goes to Andrew to talk about it, and ends up sleeping with him, only to have Judd show up at Andrew's place. Emelio gets involved in several silly schemes in an attempt to impress Andie, but, since she's already involved, Emelio gives up. Rob's wife gets tired of waiting for him to grow up, and leaves him for another guy, while Rob makes love to Mare, before going off someplace to seek his musical fortune. And Demi, who after screwing with her boss gets screwed by her boss, goes slightly nuts, and is rescued by her friends who have finally grown up, and realized that life goes on.
Ok, so it's not Schindler's List, but Reality Bites is no big prize either. And, since there's only 5 principles in Bites as opposed to 7 or 8 in Fire, the characters in Bites have to double up on foul characteristics. Emelio wears a stupid bow tie and Demi dresses silly / Ethan Hawke has a stupid, scruffy goatee, and Winona Ryder seems to have arrived at the set without any bras. Judd sleeps around, but Janeane Garafalo sleeps with so many guys she has to keep track of them in a book, and is afraid she's got AIDS. Both movies are so so, but since I'm not a Gen-Xer (although I am younger than Brad Pitt) I have St. Elmo's fire in the cabinet. As for you, I guess it's just a matter of perception ... or age ... or what you think your age is.