Reviled in its time, chiefly responsible for Travolta's rather ignominious fall from grace, this James Bridges film follows an ambitious Rolling Stone reporter who wants to write a story about health clubs becoming the singles bars of the 80s. And he wants to use them to discuss "Emersonian America". And no, I'm not kidding.
It should be horrible, and I distinctly remember it as horrible, yet it's...not. At all, really. In some respects, despite a few overly broad strokes near the conclusion, it's even quite incisive. For one, there's Travolta: belying the film's reputation, his performance here is as iconic, winning and nuanced as ever, in many respects his best.
For another, the film wrestles with the question well suited to ILM: whether journalistic ambition and integrity are inherently and fatally comporomised by the pop culture and/or commercial spheres (and interestingly, the film doesn't really answer that question). Moreover, the film portrays Rolling Stone quite accurately and unabashedly as the soulless corporate rag it was by 1985 -- why on God's earth Wenner ever consented to this--much less co-starred in it--is beyond me. If he was in on the joke, it must have been his last. And perhaps his only.
And if all that wasn't bizarre enough, there's a crazy irony with respect to the Rove/Plame/Novak scandal at the end. That's right: Perfect, starring John Travolta. Have at it.
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 29 July 2005 03:01 (eighteen years ago) link
three years pass...
I'll have to rent it again. All I remember is the end-credit sequence with cast members, including Jann Wenner, performing aerobic exercises.
― Terrible Cold, Thursday, 7 August 2008 17:16 (fifteen years ago) link
It should be horrible, and I distinctly remember it as horrible, yet it's...not. At all, really.
yes, yes it is
― omar little, Thursday, 7 August 2008 17:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Jamie Lee Curtis, I am still in love with you, I want you to know. When people haul out that hermaphrodite urban legend crap, I defend your honor every damn time. Just so you know, JL. Twenty-odd years I'm in your corner here. So feel free to throw your boy some scraps or something. Just sayin'.
― J0hn D., Thursday, 7 August 2008 17:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Totally unrelated: I love "Twist of Fate," Olivia Newton-John's Top Five hit from HER John Travolta big budget bomb, Two of a Kind. I loved it when older stars tried to get all New Wave.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 7 August 2008 17:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Hahah, I was just thinking of "Twist of Fate" as well.
I thought "Heart Attack" (the new wavey single that preceeded "Twist of Fate") was the real gem from that period.
― zaxxon25, Thursday, 7 August 2008 18:03 (fifteen years ago) link
I do remember that the issue of RS that featuring Perfect on the cover also included a big feature on the hardcore scene, mostly the SST bands that I was very familiar with, but also Flipper. Who I wasn't familiar with. That Rolling Stone was touting an underground band that I didn't know about already made me run out and buy Generic.
― bendy, Thursday, 7 August 2008 22:21 (fifteen years ago) link
eleven years pass...