Christopher Collet presents an image of Teenager of the Year, in the role of a normally rambunctious tenth-grader who can nonetheless pull himself together at appropriate moments for lofty displays of maturity. There are many such moments. The delicate situation, for all concerned, of a divorced mother trying to strike up a new relationship merits the most thoroughgoing attention; and the development of this situation starts out very gradually and believably. But warning signs eventually begin to appear. The new live-in lover is found asleep in front of the TV in mid-afternoon; a pinball machine is installed in the living room; Mom shows a sudden predilection for the corny joke: "Did you hear they're opening a restaurant on the moon? Great food, but no atmosphere." Even before the joke, the discovery of the boyfriend's cache of drugs has set the movie on a melodramatic course. And after the slam-bang chase sequence and the ensuing battle royal, you can scarcely remember what sort of movie it started out as. With Teri Garr and Peter Weller; directed by Michael Apted. (1984) — Duncan Shepherd
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