Underbearing preachment on the social pressures in high school, and the importance of resisting these and just being yourself -- especially if you are lucky enough to be one of the favored principals of a John Hughes production. (Hughes, besides producing, wrote the script; Howard Deutch directed; and together they're like a couple of with-it teachers who want the students to know that they're "on their side" -- and who of course want the students to be on their side, too.) The subordinate characters, like the pesky kid sisters ("I don't think I've had a balanced meal here. I think I'm missing one of the important food groups"), to say nothing of the stuck-up rich kids, would do better to be someone else entirely. At its best the movie is quite tolerably sweet: the "kissing practice" between the sensitive-artistic-misfit hero and the unappreciated tomboy. At worst it's molasses: the after-hours visit to the art museum, on whose walls, and for just this occasion, the hero has hung a lascivious portrait of his Dream Date. With Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Lea Thompson, and Craig Sheffer. (1987) — Duncan Shepherd
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