Film Roar

Weird Science (1985)

John Hughes essentially invented a whole film genre with his teen-angst series of Sixteen Candles (1984), Breakfast Club, The (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986) and Weird Science (1985). Hughes' films did a unique job of capturing the hopes and fears of America's youth through the 1980s. Most of his films are about not being understood, unrealized love and desperate desire to be accepted. Weird Science is nowhere near that deep.

This is a movie about teenage boy fantasies and. well... more teenage fantasies. Our boys get to drink, drive fast cars, hack government supercomputers, get even with the older brother, are told they are cool by the coolest cats in town, and of course have the opportunity to have sex with not just the two most desirable girls in school but an older, sophisticated sexy babe. Pretty much every adolescent fantasy gets screen time in this comedy. What is great about this movie is that it never tries to take itself seriously. Weird Science starts as a fantasy comedy and never pretends to be anything but, and that is something I deeply admire.

As with most Hughes movies Weird Science has some great quotes. The one that always cracks me up is when Lisa explains to Garry's parents that he is gong to a party by saying

You know, there's going to be sex, drugs, rock and roll. Chips, dips, chains, whips. You know, your basic high school orgy type of thing. A couple hundred kids running around in their underwear acting like complete animals.