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.
Taraparain
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Salubfoto
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
adonis98-743-186503
Seven friends have just finished university and are starting out in their careers. They are having to come to terms with careers, having to be more responsible, to fend for themselves and with all the decisions and issues life throws at them. Some are coping better than others and some aren't coping at all. St. Elmo's Fire is another really bad Joel Schumacher movie that has neither depth to it's characters or to it's storyline plus the perfomances weren't any better either too and of course the plot felt like it was written by someone who liked the era.
kcjanae
For years I've said I should eventually watch this movie. Finally did. My husband and I had the same thought at the same time...is there a plot to this movie? You could arguable say it's about the changes in life that cause changes in friendships etc., but especially in the beginning there are a lot of scene changes that don't seem to go anywhere. Plus, it's just weird. The men are all weird, and I do not get the strange Emilio obsession with Andie McDowell, or why she keeps letting him in houses when he's acting like a psycho. I suppose this movie is supposed to be endearing in some way, but it's pretty depressing. In the end, all it's about is shallow, empty sex lives. Leave it to the 80's.
kurt-2000
....that this was a silly film with dated jokes. But there were a few moral principles in this flick that the '80's generation needed to listen to and view as acted out. They should've filmed the x rated adventures of the '80's brat pack out on the streets of L.A. during this time period and made an unrated documentary for today's youth 30 plus years later, and we could've gotten more value out of that. Too much short sighted planning in the '80's,. so an opportunity lost. Assuming the brat pack wasn't all media hype, which I suspect. It's interesting which careers took off and lasted a lifetime. What happened to Demi's career? What a drag it is growing old, as Mick said. Mare's career held up. Other than Demi, everyone else became less than legendary for a film that some people had way too much fondness for. Was it....the idea of having seven close friends with mixed gender secret romance attraction that people liked? Or is this a chick flick with complicated relationships that women liked. I don't see men defending it. If the jokes had been better, it could've held up like 16 candles. I thought Demi looked very soft and fluffy in this film. Way too much Breakfast Club influence here. But Andie getting a wet kiss at the end, after all that mindless teasing, was justice.
rossmcfarlen
I have seen this definitive 80s brat pack movie many, many times and it never ceases to fascinate me. I believe the film has a power and magic all on its own - the characters and their stories stay on the mind long after the credits roll. Last night, I saw Elmo's as if I had seen it for the very first time. I tried to forget all previous viewings (difficult as I know so many lines of dialogue) and after sipping two glasses of wine saw the film with a fresh perspective. It helps to have a slightly altered state of consciousness when watching this flick in keeping with the youthful euphoria of the film. Did I say euphoria? Yes. Very few films manage to capture the euphoria of youth - that fleeting feeling of joy that people coming out of adolescence feel most days, believing that only good things are AHEAD of them. Critics (and this film has many) never understand the popular appeal of this movie. This is not a once-you-see-it-then- forget-it flick this film has a profound impact on the public zeitgeist, so many people relate to the individual stories. This is the definitive 'brat pack' movie of the mid 80s and the vehicle that launched many young acting careers - actors with great on-screen charm and charisma.There is rough road ahead for most people and most of us settle for Thoreau's quiet life of desperation. Being an adult is about being a serious human being (as Billy alludes to on the roof with a quiet gesture - and no words) and ready to face the everyday mundane reality of work, keeping a roof over your head, many bills to be paid, raising a family, juggling all those balls in the air and hoping and praying not to sink in the process. Billy Hicks knows this and his fake attempt at suicide on the roof of Wendy's house betrays deeper feelings of despair and a sense that adult life may not be all it's cracked up to be - and certainly nothing to do with the content of the textbooks he studied (hard to imagine him reading a book let alone revising before finals) before exams at Georgetown. This is why Schumacher has Billy comfort Jules during her 'cry of the heart' hour, her dark moment. Jules and Billy are party people but damaged people; and they are party people for a reason; to escape from personal demons and also they're aged 22 they want to have a good time. They want to escape from themselves, if only momentarily.On the surface the movie seems supremely shallow; the lives of recent Georgetown graduates in a glossy Hollywood flick negotiating jobs, new apartments, infidelity, major credit card debt, out-of-reach dreams and ambitions and as such the characters represent a lot of dreams of 80s youth. Yet, below this glossy surface (and the oh-so-glossy David Foster soundtrack) we witness the frailties of the human condition: close friendship and its potential/inevitable loss, self-delusion and obsession; relationships and their inherent dysfunction; the questioning of one's very existence with suicidal thoughts and a suicide attempt - this is deep stuff. Perhaps St. Elmo's Fire isn't as shallow as its critics seem to think it is. The critics want to see the PERFECT screenplay with PERFECT characters spouting PERFECT dialogue in a perfect story line, but the critics needs to wake up. Life isn't PERFECT and we shouldn't be watching movies about PERFECT people living PERFECT lives - they don't exist. In Elmo's Fire all the characters are flawed in their own way: Jules has deep rooted abandonment issues as a child of divorce/remarriage; Kirby Keager is clearly a stalker with mental health issues; Kevin is obsessed with Leslie and has naive expectations about their future (more delusion); Alec Newberry (brilliantly played by Judd Nelson) is an obnoxious, irascible arrogant young man with anger issues who has an exaggerated sense of entitlement and seems to want to control Leslie's life to the point of being chauvinistic and overbearing; Wendy, is way too innocent for her own good and Leslie is quietly deluded (trying to ignore Alec's extra-curricular activities) about Alec and their future together, naively thinking he'll stick around while she gets her career as a young architect together.I remember the first time I watched this movie and it went over my head, I just found too much going on. But now I relish the busyness of it all - each frame seems to capture a moment so well and there is choice dialogue in nearly every scene. My own view is that nearly all the scenes are 'classic' in their own way and the movie may not be the whole sum of its 'classic' parts but it certainly is classic enough for me. I'll always want to see it again and again.We return to this 'flawed' movie, with its flawed characters and its flawed story because in a bizarre way it captures real life in an artificial way. This is not a movie to forget and Schumacher was insightful to make a movie that people want to watch over and over again - there's a genius to this type of film-making.In the same way the late Derek Jarman caught the moment of punk with his finger-on-the-pulse movie 'Jubilee' (a must-see if you want to know the roots of the punk movement in the UK in the mid 70s); Schumacher manages to capture the mood of young people in this mid 80s zeitgeist - Elmo's is a touchstone for that yuppie culture celebrated 30 years ago. St Elmo's Fire is so FAKE it is real!
