Heaven Knows What Happens Now: Brats as Us: Part 5

I think it's appropriate at this point, with heaven on our minds to pause and watch this video; in which, heaven is queried and remains typically silent.  And I think a lot of us are feeling nostalgic right about now; particularly those of us born in the mid to late 60's.

Who would've thought that it would be Rob Lowe to put all of this into perspective for us.  To have the most open hearted take on it all?  And we'll close on this with some words from Mr. Lowe; from The Hotel New Hampshire of all things.
I went to see the B-52s a couple of years ago when they were on their 40th anniversary tour.  The opening act was OMD.  I can now say that I have heard not just If You Leave; but OMD's ENTIRE  catalogue; LIVE AND IN CONCERT.  They actually performed longer than the B's did.  But, they saved the best for last.  That song.  From that movie.  And listening to it again, nearly forty years after it came out; I can't help but hear it in a different way.  "If you leave..."  Well, at this point in my life, several of my friends have already left; and I can't help but think more about when it will be my turn.  But I don't want to get morbid.  I want to be like Rob Lowe and keep passing the open windows!  That's a line from The Hotel New Hampshire, which I brought up earlier.  It is a truly strange movie.  But it was a truly strange novel.  And what was stranger was that they managed to put in nearly every strange detail from the book into the movie; incredibly faithfully; at just under two hours!  And now, some synchronous threads appear...
A young actress named Jennifer Dundas played both Rob Lowe's sister in The Hotel New Hampshire and Andrew McCarthy's sister in Heaven Help Us. I always thought she was also the weird girl from the 80's Pepsi commercials.  Remember her?  She was a household name for five minutes.  God, was Pepsi not the most 80's soft drink ever?  Even now, they've gone back to the 80's.  What was that girls' name?  Halley something?  Let me look her up.  We'll be back, after this word from Coke...

Oh yeah.  Hallie Kate Eisenberg.  More late 90's.  Funny how the memory works.  Disqualified!  Here's a Pepsi commercial about 1987.  Funny, I kinda think Summer 2024 looks exactly like Summer 1987.

I think by now we all now nothing lasts forever.
But speaking of heaven.  I LOVED this movie.  Another...wait for it...Andrew McCarthy starrer.  Heaven Help Us.  Am I the only one who remembers this?  It was one of the best of that whole cycle of movies, IMHO.  And I went to an inner-city, all boys Catholic school.

I remember when I saw Heaven Help Us (again, on cable TV) I recall marvelling at the idea that it was set in the year I was born, 1965.  I mean, when you're sixteen, seventeen; nearly twenty years ago may have been a hundred.  Wow, was I really born in what looks like olden times?  And now that was fortyish years ago.  Not to be cliche, but I love a good cliche; it really does start flying by at a startling rate after a certain age.  I also marvelled at how remarkably similar this "olden times" story was to my own school experience; just with different hair and shoes.  Speaking of heaven; let's look at this clip of Donna Summer from The Midnight Special singing one of her lesser known songs, "Heaven Knows."

And now Donna is in heaven.  She was 30 here, in 1978.  I'm sure she felt immortal.  That fellah she's dueting with is...hmmm, who is he...let me find out.  Please hold...

That is one Mr. Joe "Bean" Esposito.  And all I have to say is Woof!  Now he's 76, God love him! 

That is sage advice from The Bean!  He still performs.  And I hope that when I get to be his age, God willing, I'll still be embracing my inner child.  We should all be Disco Sallies in this world.  Memba her?  Well, here she is at a disco gathering at WGBH in Boston, the local PBS station.  How I missed this, mystifies!

But let's get back on topic.
About nine years after the above videos...

Interesting to look at the above.  There's Mr. McCarthy, right next to Mr. Nelson; about to compete.  That poster for From the Hip?  Awful.  You can't even see Judd's face.  No wonder no one went to see it.  People probably thought it was a sequel to Oh Heavenly Dog.  True Stories?  When was the last time you watched that?  And he's just had a hit again with Stop Making Sense.  Crazy!  Neon Maniacs?  What?  Light of Day?  Joan Jett was in a movie?  Michael J. Fox made a movie with Joan Jett?  The Bedroom Window?  Excellent movie; but no one remembers it but me.  Starred Steve Guttenberg(?) and Elizabeth McGovern.  You may recall Elizabeth was Timothy Hutton's leading lady in Ordinary People.  No one even thought to think of her for The Brat Pack.  Who'dve guessed she'd end up in The Downton Abbey Pack?
So what's the point?  The point is, is that nobody can predict what the future holds. Who could've predicted that The Golden Child would be Eddie Murphy's first major stinkeroonie flop?  Or that Steve Guttenberg would turn in some of his best work in a movie destined to be forgotten?  Or that the hot superstar off the red hot success of Back to the Future would be in a movie that didn't see the light of day for very long?  Or that Andrew McCarthy would be in a movie with the future Samantha from Sex and the City (her greatest success) that would much, much later be one of his films that people remembered, rewatched and looked back on with kindness?  And as much as I like to look back; should we look back and say: this happened because of this?  Or this caused this?  Maybe "that" or "this" caused some things we didn't really consider; and couldn't consider until some time had passed.
Mr. McCarthy says in Brats that he's not a sentimentalist.  I think he's wrong.  I think, perhaps, he's tried to convince himself he isn't. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made Brats.  There's a scene in Brats where he's talking to Demi Moore and it's weirdly like some deleted scene from St. Elmo's Fire, where Demi's character attempts to shrink him (the "you're gay but you just haven't realized it yet" scene; oh, yeah, and you're in love with Judd Nelson."  And who wasn't?  Am I right people?!!?).

I'd forgotten about the above scene, with Judd barefoot in boxers (yes, I'm rewatching it on Hulu and dear Lord it's all coming back) on a ladder(!).  I highly doubt that costume was Judd's choice for the scene.  Methinks it may have been Mr. Schumacher's.  And what exactly is he doing?  Fixing the blinds?  But I digress.  Let's look at the "you're gay" scene! Oh, "Alex" (Oh, sorry, "Alec") is Judd's character.

You know, I have to say; that is a very nicely staged, photographed and acted scene. And it's one of the better written ones (dialogue wise).  The movie is full of them.  Unfortunately, the sum of the parts does not add up to a good movie. It is a stupid movie with really awful characters; and trust me, I'm giving (and have given) it chance after to chance to convince me otherwise. I was grilling my husband on his recollections of it. He said: "I remember it being really whiny."  I think he hit the nail on the head.
In Brats, when Mr. McCarthy is talking to Ms. Moore it begins to take on the feeling of a therapy session.  He even refers to her as "Dr. Demi."  As someone who deals with OCD and its' anxiety producing side effects, I couldn't help but feel some catharsis when Andrew mentioned his nearly constant feeling of, and I'm paraphrasing here, a pair of scissors in the back of his neck.  Was that it?  He also mentions in passing, more than once, his habit of going off to get double vodkas to avoid social situations.  Or that he used to do this at places like The Hamburger Hamlet (burgers and Pepsi are becoming a theme here.  And Burger King.  Weird!).

I couldn't help but think about the original "Brat Pack" article at this point.  In it, the author, Mr. Blum, attributes several quotes to Pack members; but cagily does not specifiy who said them--which, if you ask me, is a real dick move. It's just trying to stir up shit.  Someone says of Andrew McCarthy: "He plays all his roles with too much of the same intensity.  I don't think he'll make it."  Well, whoever said it was wrong, since he most decidedly "made it."  But they were also right too.  His intensity usually was pitched somewhere at a 10 or 11.  Even in comedies, where he gave some of the tightest smiles in cinema history.  I used to wonder about it at the time; because I liked him and thus, I was rooting for him.  But he definitely seemed to have a sort of heaviness of spirit that came through.  And maybe that did affect his career.  And yes, watching Brats, that quality still came through.  A kind of pervasive melancholy.  A tangible anxiety.  Perhaps Mr. McCarthy has an undiagnosed anxiety disorder.  I don't know.  I'm not a liscensed therapist; but if he hasn't sought some kind of therapy, perhaps he should.  Or perhaps it's because he's Irish.  We have these problems by default.  In any event, maybe Ms. Moore could point him in the right direction.  Or maybe he really is gay and still hasn't accepted it.  Ron?  Paging Ron the Decorator!​

Back in 1986, because I had missed seeing Molly Ringwald on the Big Screen in Sixteen Candles; I was determined to see her on the Big Screen in Pretty In Pink.  I mean, I had seen her on the Big Screen in The Breakfast Club; but that movie was so serious.  So, not-much-fun.  But; by the time Pretty In Pink was released, I was like a junior in college.  I remember being sort of embarrassed that I wanted to see it; and dragged my friend along, the same one that I had so mockingly made fun of St. Elmo's Fire with.  Siskel and Ebert had given it a thumbs down.  But still, I didn't care!  Oh, no, wait; Roger liked it!  Maybe that had something to do with why I went.

Movies are important to me.  I can often remember where I saw something and who I saw it with.  In the case of Pretty In Pink, it was at the Sack Charles 1-2-3 theater in downtown Boston.  I had never been there before.  I didn't know it at the time; but it had, like, the Biggest Movie Screen in Boston!  In a way, Pretty In Pink became an immersive experience.  It was sort of like seeing it in IMAX before there was IMAX.  And the sound was amaze-balls, which was great, as that flick had some rad tuneage!

I'm so glad I swallowed my embarrassment and went to see it; because now I have a cherished memory.  Incidentally, I can remember the other two movies I saw here.  The 1989 re-release of the restored director's cut of Lawrence of Arabia and also, The Last Emperor in it's original run.  All three amazing experiences!  Mr. McCarthy, you're in pretty good company, I'd say.​
​And clearly, Mr. McCarthy is a kind and forgiving soul.  He ended up embracing Mr. Blum, his OG tormentor.  I don't know Andrew, I think your first impulse about him was right.  Don't get suckered in.  That dude is trouble.  He's recently written an article defending his original stance that you are a brat.  I have not read it.  I probably should and probably will; oh, but not now.
So, let's pack it in Brats. I think I've come to an understanding.  And perhaps you've come to an understanding.  And let's hear what Rob Lowe had to say then.  Rob Lowe the Would Be Soothsayer.  Who knew?

FIN

For further reading, this was an interesting peruse:tremblesighwonder.com/2022/01/23/if-mannequin-is-so-bad-why-have-you-seen-it-so-many-times-my-spirited-defense-of-a-humpback-classic/

​CFR   6/30/24