One Crazy Summer

Starring: John Cusack, Demi Moore, Joel Murray, Linda Warren, Jeremy Piven
Directed by: Savage Steve Holland
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Romance
1986

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary: A high school student (John Cusack) travels with some friends to Nantucket, where he falls in love with a struggling musician (Demi Moore) trying to save her family's house from a greedy businessman.

Review:

Tim: Director Savage Steve Holland and young star John Cusack achieved some level of success in 1985's Better Off Dead, so it made sense to bring them back for another wacky, loosely-based-on-reality romantic comedy set in the world of post high school. Since it worked once, it would work again, right? Absolutely wrong. Whereas Better Off Dead managed to give us an entertaining story with a good bit of romance thrown in, plus a series of gags which weren't grounded in reality (yet still believable), this film throws all caution and logic to the wind, giving us a bloated, stupid, absurd movie that is almost completely unenjoyable. This is a terrible film.

Now, the responsibility for this massive bomb falls squarely on the shoulders of Savage Steve Holland, who served as both writer and director. The cast has nothing to work with, being given an amateurish script seemingly written by a deranged monkey drunk on wine. There is no rhyme or reason to any of the crazy events that happen throughout the film. They aren't even particularly funny and serve no purpose except to annoy and bore us while taking us out of the movie. The plot is just so stupid, held together loosely by the faintest of points. I couldn't care about the story because it felt like its only purpose was to move the characters from one absurd situation to the next. Holland does an awful job, both with the script and the direction. This is really a career killer type film.

The cast also suffers from Holland's shoddy work. Surprisingly, John Cusack manages to obtain some respectability. He is a charismatic, likeable actor and is able to deliver a few good moments here. Sadly, the script shackles Cusack and his good moments are few and far between. He is undoubtedly the best thing in this entire movie. I was actually far less impressed with Demi Moore. I can't exact put my finger on my problem with her, except to say that she seemed completely disinterested throughout the entire film. I can't blame her because I'd feel the same way after I read the script, but her lack of spark and energy makes her seem out of place in a film where everyone else puts in a ton of effort. Moore and Cusack have no chemistry. The rest of the supporting cast range from decent to completely, thoroughly, frustratingly annoying. As a whole, this cast is pretty pathetic.

I will admit I laughed a few times, but that was bound to happen in a film that takes the shotgun approach to comedy. It felt like Holland was bound and determined to throw as many gags and jokes into this film as possible, intent on having at least a few of them stick. The problem here is that 90% of them don't work, which makes this movie nearly agonizing to watch. None of the jokes are particularly well written, and even the funny ones reek of sophomoric, juvenile humor.

One Crazy Summer is a complete trainwreck of the movie. There are a few good moments, but they are buried so far under heaps of crap that it would take a shovel and a good deal of time to uncover them. I did not enjoy this movie, as it annoyed me more than anything else. I need to go wash the stink of this film off me.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 3



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Better Off Dead, Say Anything..., The Sure Thing, Sixteen Candles