Youngblood (1986) – A hockey movie where Rob Lowe moves up the boarder to play for a Canadian junior hockey team in hopes to eventually make it to the NHL. It starts up fine enough. Rob showing he is good enough for a spot on the team and then proving he can be a trusted contributor.
You get some hazing tossed in for good measure (which is some of his teammates shaving his balls. Eh… I guess that was a punishment back in the 80s. Nowadays you’d consider that an extra kindness) and plenty of Rob Lowe ass which entices the leading lady who also happens to be the coach’s daughter. It’s a rated R movie and if you like hunky dudes, you’re in luck. Plenty of locker room shots of half-naked dudes. Patrick Swayze got the women all hot and bothered in the 80s right? He’s the other star on the team.
The hockey itself isn’t that great. Plenty of slowmo. It gets the job done I suppose. The last third of the movie is where it all falls apart. Some writing that is very poor. Not helped by some bad acting (side characters mainly) and Rob Lowe’s main motivation of returning to the team (he leaves after Swayze gets taken out by a goon in key game and now wants back). Everything about the last third is stupid. The very end to the last game is beyond stupid and just has nothing to do with the spirit of hockey or getting payback in a way that makes sense. Instead it turns into Rocky 4 insanity when the movie wasn’t anything like this in the first 2 thirds.
Pass unless you are a really big fan of Rob Lowe or Patrick Swayze. Or if you want to see some real humble beginnings of Keanu Reeves. Otherwise, Slapshot is the film you are looking for that is sort of similar.
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Lucas (1986) – It’s been a few days since I watched this coming of age teenage comedy. At first I thought it was kinda cute if very shallow. And that’s still true, but it’s also a movie I wouldn’t mind seeing again.
Lucas is this 14 year old who I guess is really smart so he was placed ahead in school. Of course he’s also a bit scrawny and nerdy and high school hasn’t been the easiest for him. It’s summer and a new girl moves into town. They bond and form a friendship, but things change once school starts. She’s considered a pretty girl and is willing to be friendly and outgoing. Joining the cheerleaders and such, but still true to herself. Lucas, not so much. He’s one step away from being a fedora’d gentleman and two steps from being a misogynist, but really, he’s just bitter about his social status and hey, sometimes you’re low on the totem pole. That’s high school for some. He lacks a level of maturity both in his body and his mind. I can understand his flaws at age 14 and how someone like him can work through that as they grow older. If he was 24? I’d be very concerned about his worldview.
The movie covers familiar teenage high school drama and comedy, but never in a way that’s too serious. As I mentioned initially it feels fairly shallow. But in retrospect I think that’s ok. Because a lot of our characters are still shallow naturally. Even with hints of maturity here and there, hey, it’s still high school. There is something pleasant about observing our main characters that go beyond the Lucas and the girl. There are other key players like Charlie Sheen who is a football jock, but also is a bit of a guardian to Lucas at school. We have characters like Winona Ryder’s that fill out other sort of high school archetypes. There’s a familiarity to it all if you experienced American high school. Again, it’s all done a bit shallowly, but it does have some heart that goes a long way.
I do wish they went into much further detail about Lucas’ life at home, because a major bomb is dropped on the viewers when the movie is almost over, and it left me wondering why we would skirt over some details. I suppose to keep things a bit more easy going. Well the whole football segment with Lucas near the end is off the wall completely. I’m pretty sure the big play was A. a penalty, B. incomplete, and C. Why are we acting like it’s a fumble? Maybe nobody who wrote or directed knew much about football. It’s laughable.
Lucas is far from my favorite high school teen comedies/dramas and had the potential to do much more with its cast. Still, I actually recommend giving it a shot.
