I never claimed to have the most refined taste when it comes to movies (and if you need proof, take a look). Sometimes my taste is downright mind-boggling, and no amount of public scorn can stop me from sitting down for multiple viewings of flicks that most of you out there wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. So, on that note, today I'm going to tell you about a movie I love that usually earns me my fair share of some blank stares: About Last Night.
This '80s 'classic' was directed by Edward Zwick (a far cry from his war epics, I know) and was based on the David Mamet play, Sexual Perversion in Chicago. The film starred 80's wunderkinds Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Jim Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins (providing most of the comic relief) in a tale of romantic misadventures among young professionals in Chicago. The film was my first exposure to 'serious' romantic drama, and when I first watched it as an 11-year-old girl, I felt like I was quite the grown-up -- mainly because for once, I understood most of the dirty jokes.
The film may have blunted some of the edge of Mamet's play and provided a happy ending that didn't exist in the original, but as a time piece of pre-AIDS sexual politics, this movie can't be beat. About Last Night was the perfect antidote to the easy and simple romance I had seen up on the big screen, and no matter the time or the place, if I catch this movie on TV, I'm hanging in until the very end.
After the jump: in defense of bad taste, and one of the many reasons I love this movie: obscure 80's love songs....
If you take a look at the online opinion of the film, it's not that bad really. In fact, you can even find some fans. But I'm not sure where those people hang out because every time I have ever mentioned this movie to my fellow cinephiles in the real world, their reaction is mainly disbelief .... tinged with a little bit of pity. But I guess it doesn't matter, because we all have our kinks and in the end, I defy anyone to take a hard look at their favorite movies and not find at least one flick whose merits only they can see.
Warning: language is NSFW
As an added bonus: I've already shared my embarrassing taste in movies, why not music, too?
So now it's time for you out there to fess up and list the movies you think nobody seems to like but you.
1. I seem to be the only one of my friends who thinks Nacho Libre is hilarious (I anticipate something similar happening when Gentlemen Broncos comes out). Also, I found Year One to be quite funny, especially when Michael Cera peed on himself.
Posted at 10:10PM on Oct 21st 2009 by will