ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

hdavis-29 This old VHS tape was resurrected and dubbed to DVD (with little skill) because and only because Christian Slater's name has come to have commercial value. Without his presence in this film, there is no DVD. From the IMDb reviews I've read it seems unlikely anybody got rich on this threadbare scam. Most reviewers here seem to have found their copies in 99c bins. Slater is fine and so are the actors around him. The person of greatest interest to me was actually Veronica Cartwright (who plays his mother). I've seen the face (and those haunted eyes) before, although perhaps not so young-looking. What really amazed me though was how many acting credits the woman has. It looks like she didn't take many holidays during a peak 20 year period. Seriously, have a look at her resume. Can you name a lot of TV shows she HASN'T appeared in? Just to use up my spoiler warning, let me point out the question many of you did: Who dun it? Are we supposed to assume Christian did? That was far from clear to me.

ruffrider I stumbled onto this while channel surfing and after sampling a few minutes I didn't want to turn it off. The all-too-familiar love triangle theme is played out with two best friends in high school, torn apart by sultry sexpot and fellow classmate Lily, who'll do anything (and any one) to get her out of this hick town. She bounces back and forth between confident jock Alex and his shy pal Cliff, who's always there to pick up the pieces when Alex lets her down. In spite of the strain Lily puts on their friendship the 2 boys manage to hang through it all - until Alex disappears after a hunting trip with Cliff. When Alex's body is found the police pick up Cliff immediately, as the love triangle was no secret to anyone. Before Cliff's arrest Lily had tried desperately to get him to confess, but to no avail. While almost everything points to Cliff as the culprit, Lily's father should also have been under suspicion, for he had threatened Alex to keep him away from Lily and he's also no slouch with a rifle.As the shooting was never shown, everyone's in the dark when the murder trial begins, including the audience. Lily's betrayal of gullible Cliff on the witness stand seams to be sealing his fate when he throws his hat in the ring for her yet again and decides to plead guilty to manslaughter to save Lily from further grueling cross-examination on the witness stand. His gallantry earns him 8 years in prison and left me wondering what about the ballistics evidence? The bullet(s) in Alex' body should have pointed to the culprit as the one who's rifle matched the bullets, but such trifles are never mentioned. Thus we never find out for sure who killed Alex, but at least the producers were kind enough to show the terms of Cliff's sentence in the screen credits at the end. And now that the movie's over, who killed Alex? I'm still wondering.The actors are quite competent and here's a chance to see a very young Christian Slater before he became famous. Tammy Lauren is fetching and believable as the poor "white trash" girl who knows what she's got and how to use it to bring the hormones of teen-aged boys to a boil. As Cliff's attorney for the defense puts it, she thinks she's been spending all her time looking for "L-O-V-E," when the operative word should be "S-E-X." The movies's final scene shows Lily, looking depressed and leaning against the mill where she lured the boys for those "love" trysts. Now she must face her own fate as a pariah, still stuck in this future-less town, knowing she's ruined lives and families. Clearly she's serving out her own sentence, but one feels it isn't long or harsh enough.

abuelajill I use movies for therapy. It is called cinema-therapy. My interest went to Cliff immediately as one who loved no matter what. At first it bothered me, and I felt he was stupid for allowing this girl to make a fool of him. But the film forced me to step outside of my opinions and look at this character in a more objective manner. Not until the end did I realize the depth and extent of his ability to love. To take the "rap" for something one didn't do purely to save the feelings of the one you love is way up there in the greats for unconditional love. It helped to expand my horizons by showing me that true love "IS" no matter what the world says. It stands without shame. It is free and pure. What a gift for someone to love you like that! Even more how wonderful to be that selfless and loving. Somethings to ponder...

adavis8319 Desperate for love is the emotional thriller that will force the viewer to question every loyalty they have ever had in life. While the cover for this movie claims that Cliff Petrie was "desperate for love" I personally believe that the true desperation was held within Lily Becker. Cliff Petrie gives us one simple example of pure, unadulterated love. Meanwhile Lilly Becker clearly displays fear, depression, and anxiety along with a cunning and seductive deception.