I had occasion last night to waste two hours of my life on Can't Hardly Wait, one of perhaps one jillion teenager-coming-of-age films. There were actually a few laughs which kept me on the channel, but when it was all over, I thought here we have another example of Hollywood excess. The same basic premise done over and over again. My generation's teen angst film was probably The Breakfast Club or another one of John Hughes' endless tales of high school drama. But it really doesn't matter because it's always the same premise. Even Weird Science had the same basic concept wrapped into a quasi sci-fi twist.
Recipe:
Jocks
Social Outcasts
Cheerleaders
Drug Users
Sluts
One or more untouchables (fat, giant braces, bad teeth, whatever)
Clean cut innocent youth
Mix them all together into the same tired cliches, throw them in a party or force them in a room together and watch in amazement as they come to understand their nuances and vulnerabilities. Oh please.
Can't Hardly Wait was another one of these and it had a brooding, bug-eyed Ethan Embry (pre-Dragnet for TV) fawning throughout the movie for the best girl in school who was just dumped by the biggest jock. Embry's character got the cynical and ironic social outcast best friend to pal with, and we also got to watch the head of the physics club come alive and gain acceptance after getting tanked and letting loose. Along the way, we get to see everyone's vulnerabilities exposed and the jock becomes the loser and the loser become popular.
The Breakfast Club confined its angst with a smaller group held for detention, but it was the same basic premise.
I notice that it is rare for a gay character to appear in one of these films - maybe they were smart enough to skip the whole affair and go to the movies instead! But I'm not sure if these movies are designed to echo high school life or reinforce the expected social order of the pre-college years. I'm not thrilled with the message that social lubrication via spirits is the ticket to group acceptance either. But then I've always felt that way, even as a teenager. Yeah, that puts me in the Janeane Garofalo-outcast group, but that was okay with me back then. I've never been drunk (I despise the taste of alcohol, what can I say) not have I ever smoked, nor gotten high. It just never interested me.
Since we've been discussing the social messages of Brokeback, it reminded me to write about the other white meat - teen angst movies.
