The Lather Effect (2006)

If the 80s were the ultimate party welcome to the hangover. The Lather Effect is an ensemble comedy about a group of high-school friends in their mid-30s who reunite for an out-of-control Come As You Were weekend. But the morning after may expose that some flames still burn certain secrets must be revealed and the greatest song of all time is always up for debate.System Requirements:Running Time: 95 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/BUDDY FILMS UPC: 013131564495 Manufacturer No: DV15644 Product Description

a movie for the 80s generation

Val (36) throws one last party at the house where she grew up. It's being sold by her parents and it's the last chance for everybody she grew up with in the 80s to get together and get really drunk and silly while they reminisce about their high school days.

This movie is the "C" version of the Big Chill. The chacters were very one-dimensional and acting was spotty at best - what was up with Eric Stoltz doing an effected english accent? It was a character, I know, but since he co-produced it I thought he would have come up with much better.

There were high school soul mates that were broken apart on purpose but have moved on with their lives, two woman who realize they shouldn't let a man interfer with their friendship, and moving on from the past. All between drinking games, pot smoking philosophies and "truth or dare" - which REALLY isn't as interesting as it sounds. The morning after the party, the house was a complete wreck just like in high school. None of the characters seemed like they had matured much even if they were tagged doctors, mothers, etc.

If you are looking for 80s nostalogia, this movie might be for you but only if you have nothing better to watch. It works best for those who still live in their parents basement and lament over the good old days. July 16, 2008

lather, rinse, repeat..........

Fun little film. Well done homage to "The Big Chill," (you will notice many similarities) with a group of Gen Xers getting together for a high school reunion in their 30's. (Must be a 15 year reunion, because 20 years would put them closer to their 40s, unless they all graduated young. It has more the feel of a 20 year than a 10 year reunion about it, however.) We don't see the actual reunion, as the action begins the "morning after," complete with hangovers and "oh my god, did she really do that?!" situations. It captures very well the kind of nostalgia and behavior reunions like this can involve (for any generation, I might add). It also captures human behavior in all its silliness, pain, warmth, and joy.

The music is vintage 80s and very good. It's also cool to see real vinyl records again. Great ensemble cast makes the characters and their interactions believable. The dialog is honest, sexy, funny, and about as realistic as a movie can be. There is no nudity or sexual activity (unless you count kissing), but plenty of frank sexual talk about sexual activity and swearing. There is also drinking and drug use, so be advised.

It stands up well on multiple viewings, and the "making of" extras add a lot to the feel of the film. I liked it.

Oh, and by the way, there IS no greatest song of all time...........

July 13, 2008

Doesn't Quite Come Out from the Big Chill's Shadow

In only a few days Valinda (Connie Britton) has to turn over her family home to the new buyers, so she throws a whale of a party, inviting her high school pals, sort of a twenty year reunion. The movie opens the day after the party. The partygoers, for the most part, have left their spouses and children at home, as they've come to relive what once was, their high school past.

As the group nurses hangovers, while they're cleaning up the mess, they wax nostalgic and dredge up memories and secrets that maybe they shouldn't have, because they involve old hurts. They've never really grown up, these people, and now they are about to.

There's a super soundtrack and a super cast, including: Tate Donovan, Ione Sky and the great Eric Stoltz, but for some reason the movie didn't quite live up to the long shadow cast by the Big Chill, a shadow that effects all movies like this. Still it was okay, four stars. July 7, 2008

Big Chill Wannabe that Falls a Bit Flat

Valinda (Connie Britton) brings her high school pals (who include Ione Skye, Eric Stoltz, David Herman, Peter Facinelli, Sarah Clarke, Tate Donovan, William Maphther and Caitlin Keats) together for an Eighties type party and as one would expect the group finds that drink loosens up old memories, opens up old wounds. They tell each other of desires present and past, opportunities lost and gained.

One of the cast has been cruel in the past, changing the shape of relationships back then, just because he could and lovers who thought they were meant to be went their separate ways. Now, seemingly happily married to others, they find themselves with another change, but that chance will wreck other lives. Well they go for it, grasp what might have been? That's about the only thing that kept me watching in this Big Chill Wannabe movie that fell a bit flat. July 2, 2008

An Okay Gen X Movie

The movie opens with the camera panning over the aftermath of one heck of a party, reminding one almost of the death and bodily destruction in an ancient Greek or Roman battlefield. You know right from the start lots of liquor has been consumed the night before, lots of shennigans went on, condoms discovered, you get the picture, however the picture didn't quite live up to that opening.

This is a film about a group of Gen Xers who get together two decades after high school, the party, the remember high school, who slept with who, who missed out on who, who should've wound up with who, but didn't. I suppose If you're of that generation, you might enjoy the movie, I'm not and I did not. Okay, a little maybe, but I'd rent it, not buy it. That's my recommendation. July 2, 2008

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