St. Elmo's Fire (1985)

A collective vanity piece for the so-called Brat Pack of the 1980s, this coming-of-age movie--written and directed by Joel Schumacher (A Time to Kill)--is a largely unbelievable ensemble piece about college grads having trouble getting a lift-off into adulthood. As in John Hughes's Breakfast Club--which has a lot of casting overlap with this film--each actor plays a rather narrow type with problems common to his or her classification. Some (as with Rob Lowe's seemingly doomstruck character) are more absurd than others. But absurdity isn't the issue in this movie; a general sense of indulgence is. Schumacher not only presumes an undeserved mystique about this cast, but he also exploits it and comes up empty. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

 Gotta have it
No 80's movie collection would be complete w/o this one. Who can resist old school Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy & Judd Nelson??? The tumultuous lives of young adults in the 80's ... few things beat it. March 27, 2008

 It's Not All That Bad!
I can't argue with the negative reviews, but I am somehow strangely drawn to this movie. Perhaps it is because I was in my late 20s when the movie was originally released, and I hung out with a group of friends who were somewhat similar to the characters in St. Elmo's Fire. We even hung out in a bar (Z's Sports Tap in Chicago, since torn down and replaced by a highrise building) where we were regulars. I like to think we weren't as shallow and useless as the characters in this film, but we were all trying to find our way after being out of college for a few years. Now we are all fat, with kids, living in the suburbs; so I guess the attraction of this movie is to recall our "youth." By the way, it does have a pretty good soundtrack. Strictly 80s! January 20, 2008

 Who are we kidding...
...if you're even looking at this movie, then you probably have seen it and, come on, let's face it - this is a classic for anyone born between 1960 and 1980. Watched just after I bought it and made me feeling 10 years younger. Just go ahead and buy it. January 15, 2008

 Good for 80's nostalgia---but not much else
St. Elmo's Fire is a coming-of-age movie that will have a certain nostalgic appeal to anyone who was a teenager or a 20-something in the mid-1980s. It will be of limited interest to anyone else, unless you are excessively interested in the pop culture of that era.

The main characters of St. Elmo's Fire are seven recent college graduates who are beginning their professional lives. As other reviewers have noted, these people aren't credible as an ensemble of friends---nor are they particularly believable on their own merits. Somewhere in this mess is a story about the transition from adolescence to adulthood; but the inconsistent characters and disjointed plotlines distract the viewer from the larger themes.

To cite just one example: Emilio Estevez's character, Kirby, develops a severe infatuation with an older woman. He acts out his obsession in ways that would disturb anyone, even threatening the woman's roommate at one point. But the woman who is the object of his desires seems to regard these antics as vaguely cute. People were not quite as sensitive about stalking and sexual harassment in the 1980s as they are today; but this behavior would have been over the top even then. No woman would have tolerated this, much less found it endearing.

Demi Moore's character, Jules, is a compulsive liar who becomes addicted to cocaine. No adequate explanation is ever given for her behavior. Throughout the movie, she moves from one unexplained crisis to the next. Nor does the partial resolution of her conflicts at the end of the movie make any sense.

I watched this DVD with high expectations. I was a teenager in 1985; and I remember that this movie was heavily hyped at the time. But after spending 108 minutes on St. Elmo's Fire, I could not help thinking that I might have gone another 22 years without this experience---- and been no worse off.
November 10, 2007

 Too many characters... and not a single good one
St. Elmo's Fire is directed by Joel Schumacher. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham, Rob Lowe, and Ally Sheedy. David Foster contributes the musical score and John Parr performs the title song.

The film follows the lives of a group of friends who have just graduated from college and are beginning to go out into the world, and make a living. The group of friends includes a guy who becomes obsessive after being reacquainted with an old love interest, one who is a talented musician but can't keep control over any other aspect of his life, a writer with an identity crisis, a party girl, a young man working in politics, a romantic type girl, and an innocent girl from a wealthy family, looking to break away and make her own way in life.

This is a decent comedy-drama with some good scenes and moments, and the music is as good as eighties movie music gets. Unfortunately, as a whole it falls flat. There are some genuinely classic moments in this movie, but it's bogged down by countless issues, the biggest one of which being that not one of the characters is memorable. And all of them are stereotypes who stay one-dimensional throughout the entire movie. This isn't helped by the fact that there are far too many of them, and it's impossible to keep track of who is who, from start to finish. The film seems to drag on and plenty of scenes go nowhere. A classic example of "too many characters, too little time" isn't helped by the fact that none of them are all that interesting. And the few that are interesting are for all the wrong reasons.

Emilio Estevez portrays Kirby Keger, who is seeking a career as a lawyer and immediately redevelops an obsession with a girl he met in his early college days upon being reunited with her. Estevez is a terrific actor, but his character here is far too obsessive and clingy. I remembered this character long after I had finished watching the film, but I only remembered him because of his creepy nature.

Demi Moore plays Jules Jacoby, the party girl of the group. She's the girl who maxes out her credit cards and gets cash advances without a second thought. Her extravagant lifestyle is used as an escape from her poor childhood memories, which included a father who went through many divorces. This is a character that a lot could have done with, but it's a classic example of "what you see is what you get." The character doesn't evolve AT ALL.

Rob Lowe is Billy Hicks, the talented musician who can't hold the other aspects of his life together. He is married and has a child, but rarely goes home to sleep or to see them. This isn't helped by the fact that he's a wild and crazy ladies man. He's an unfit father and spousal figure, and I was seriously hoping this movie would chronicle him changing from negligent to responsible, and preparing to move on with his life. But like the other characters, there's very little change in his life. His character is not redeemed and remains universally dislikable.

The only halfway decent character in the film is Wendy Beamish, played here by Mare Winningham. She's the sweet and innocent type, and despite coming from a wealthy family, desires to make her own way in life, which she aims to accomplish through working at a welfare office. As a whole I would have to say that she is my favorite character in the movie, but she too fails to undergo any serious change or evolution as the film progresses. And let's be realistic - this type of character is an overused stereotype, particularly in eighties movies.

In addition to the core characters being largely uninteresting and unchanging throughout the course of the movie, there are far too many of them. Had Schumacher just picked three or four characters and stuck with them, the film would have ended up far better than it ultimately was. Of course, I wasn't really expecting much from the man who would bring us Batman and Robin a decade later - one of the most universally-disliked films of all time.

The film's music is one of its better points. John Parr sings the familiar "Man In Motion" title song, which is probably the thing this movie is best remembered for. The score is by David Foster, and his score, along with the other soundtrack tunes, do capture the eighties mood nicely.

In the end it's sad to say that St. Elmo's Fire isn't a film that has aged well. Not good, but not horrible either, this stands as a fairly average eighties movie. There aren't a whole lot of reasons to recommend this film; there are similar pictures from the same era that are far superior products. Not a bad film, but don't go our of your way to see it.

Marginal thumbs down. November 6, 2007

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