25/50x2: St. Elmo's Fire

I guess I should sort of be a shamed of myself. I didn't realize just how many of these Brat Pack films I had never seen before. In my last group I took down the Molly Ringwald-led films, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles.

I was not that big a fan of Pretty in Pink, but Sixteen Candles was a fun watch. I would say St. Elmo's fire fell somewhere in the middle of the two.

We have a few of the returning parties from the earlier films, but here they are college graduates (Georgetown) instead of still in high school. And the tone of the movie has changed due to their maturity as well - it is a bit darker than the high school films.

So, the film follows seven friends: Jules (Demi Moore), Billy (Rob Lowe), Alec (Judd Nelson), Leslie (Ally Sheedy), Wendy (Mare Winningham), Kevin (Andrew McCarthy) and Kirby (Emlio Estevez).

All of them are friends from college and the film is basically about their coming of age and their struggles to make it in the adult world. Which, despite the 80s feel of the film, is actually right on point for all college graduates or anyone trying to make it as an adult.

Alec is a politician who is in a relationship with Leslie, and is constantly trying to get her to marry him. But, she keeps turning him down - which he uses as an excuse to cheat on her.

Wendy is the virgin of the group, who is very shy and comes from a wealthy family. She also happens to be in love with Billy, who is the black sheep of the group. He is married, but is a terrible a husband and father - he spends most of his time partying and sleeping around.

Jules is probably the counter part to Billy, a pretty big partier in her own right. She also happens to have a few bad habits in her life, like spending money she doesn't have and doing a bit too much cocaine.

Kirby is working tables at the bar, St. Elmo's Fire, while trying to put himself through law school to become a lawyer. He develops a bit of an obsession with Dale Biberman (Andie MacDowell), an intern at the local hospital.

Kevin is a writer and works for a newspaper, but his only job is writing obituaries. He is the lover of the group, but never has a girlfriend, so most of his friends suspect him to be gay, despite the fact that he may in fact be in love with one of his friends.

That is pretty much the outline of the characters. A lot goes on throughout the film, and it does take some pretty dark turns with many of them. But, it shows the strength in friendships and having people in your life who will always be there for you - no matter what.

I think I enjoyed Sixteen Candles much more because of the coming-of-age story and the film had some pretty good comedy in it. Here we don't really get as much comedy, it is a pretty straight-forward drama. But, still a decent watch - even though I don't think I would run to watch it again.

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