First off, I'm a huge fan of 80s movies, and of Jennifer Conelly as well. So yesterday, I wandered into a local used book/movie store and found a VHS copy. I read the back and it sounded good and for $3.99, it was a good deal. So I took it home and popped it in the VCR. What a sweet movie! At my age now, I relate more to movies like About Last Night or St. Elmo's Fire, but still I remember what it was like to be 15/16 and in love with an older guy, etc. We all have those little crushes when we're younger. And if it doesn't work out, we're heartbroken and we think that we'll never get over it. But of course we do. Many times. It's that sort of sweet quality that I really got from this movie. The feeling of "Oooh! I remember when something like that happened to me..." is all through it. The characters are interesting and well-developed. I recommend it to anyone who likes 80s movies, teen films in particular, or to anyone who just wants to go back and remember a simpler time in their lives.

Its a standard teen story about first romances, unrequited love and first sort of sexual experiences. Its very sweet with just a bit of raunchiness, mainly from Maddie Corman's character. Connelly's character is chaste, kinda bookish and vulnerable to the temptations of older boys. She is also very beautiful (like a younger sister of phoebe cates) fresh faced and very young looking. Which is no surprise as she was 14 when she made this. Its good to see teens being played by teens for once because i'm way to accustomed to teens on screen being played by actors in their mid 20's. One of the better teen films from the 80's in my opinion.

Ohio teen Natalie Becker (Jennifer Connelly) is home alone while her father is away for work. Her longtime friend Jeff Moran stays with her after another fight with his stepfather. Her friend Polly Franklin likes James Casey III but he starts dating Natalie. Then Polly encounters pro baseball player Zoo Knudson and she pretends to be 18. It's a lot of awkward teenage romantic attempts for the three friends.

The main reason to see this is Connelly. She's a bit awkward and new at the time. It's too bad that she never got into the John Hughes teen movies until Career Opportunities. This is not the best of the high school genre. The main problem is the construction. These three best friends are rarely in the same scene together. They get scattered. They need more scenes together to build chemistry and manufacture confrontations. The situations are a little edgy sexually. The characters are compelling but the drama stutters along the way.