Some Kind Of Wonderful

Blue-collar teen Keith goes out on a date with his dream girl, the hot and popular Amanda from the rich kid crowd. Meanwhile, Amanda's ex-boyfriend, Hardy, plots revenge on Keith, and Keith's tomboy best friend, Watts, realizes that she actually has feelings for Keith.

Originally released on February 27th, 1980, Some Kind Of Wonderful, perhaps the make-out party movie of the late 80s and early 90s, is now over 40 years old. I’ll pause here a moment for all of my Gen X readers to crumble into dust…

Yep. 40 years. Just recently turned forty-six, to be exact.

So, anyway… as the writer/producer, Some Kind Of Wonderful—along with Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty In Pink—is one of John Hughes’ generation-defining films about American teens in the 80s, most of which are pretty clearly problematic now, especially when it comes to depictions of date rape and racism. Outside of that, they are also films where everyone had hockey hair, people wore bandannas not just on their heads, or around their necks, but tied around various places on their arms and legs, and also everybody smoked. Everybody. Inside the house even.

According to legend, it was Pretty in Pink that brought this film about.

In the original cut of Pretty In Pink, Andy (played by 80s icon Molly Ringwald) ends up with her best friend, Duckie (played by lesser 80s icon Jon Cryer), but the test audiences didn’t like this, probably because they correctly found Duckie to be a creepy weirdo, so a new ending was shot where Andy ends up with Blane (played by medium-sized 80s icon Andrew McCarthy). This was apparently very upsetting for Director Howard Deutch and writer/producer John Hughes, for reasons that I am forced to guess are due to the fact that they clearly saw themselves in Ducky, not Blane, so they decided to re-tell the story. But this time, in order to obscure the fact that this film was just a second bite at a narrative apple, they decided to switch the sexes of the main characters. I also assume they did this in an attempt to lessen the general creepy stalker vibes. Maybe. That’s just a guess. But if true, then let me assure you, they completely failed… but we’ll get into that later.

Either way, with a bee now firmly in their bonnets, and their heads also fully up their own asses, the pair plowed ahead, consequences be damned, laser-focused on redeeming themselves and the story they viewed as having failed. Lost, listening to no one, they amused themselves with pointless inside-jokes, like how they named one character Amanda Jones after The Rolling Stones song, and then, to continue the joke, named two other characters, one as Keith, and one as Watts, but for some reason, despite having more characters available, they decided not use to Mick or Brian or Bill.

Commit to the bit, guys, or don’t bother…

On top of that, Hughes apparently wanted Molly Ringwald to play Amanda, but she declined, believing the character was too similar to Claire Standish from The Breakfast Club, and also, she was beginning to tire of playing a Teen Queen, and wanted to pursue a new direction in her career. And this decision is why she and John Hughes never worked together again, because apparently, he took her turning down the role very personally.

Bee in the bonnet. Head up the ass.

Initially, Martha Coolidge was hired to direct the film, but John Hughes, reportedly not vert happy with what’s been described as Coolidge’s much darker version, fired her, and Howard Deutch took over. For the revamped version of the movie, Eric Stoltz and Mary Stuart Masterson were kept on, but Kyle MacLachlan and Kim Delaney were fired. In their place, Craig Shaffer and Lea Thompson were hired. Well, at first, Lea Thompson was like “no thanks,” but after somehow being surprised by the fact that Howard the Duck bombed in legendary fashion, she quickly changed her mind. Lucky she did, as she and Howard Deutch met and fell in love on set, married two years later, and have been together ever since.

No word on whether or not this upset John Hughes.

Just fyi, Some Kind Of Wonderful is the third film where Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson worked together. The first was The Wild Life in 1984, a film that not only have I never even heard of, I don’t even recall seeing it on the shelves of any of the video stores I‘ve browsed, including the one I worked in for maybe a decade. And since it not only stars Lea Thompson and Eric Stoltz, but also Chris Penn, and Randy Quaid and Rick Moranis too, now I have to hunt it down. The second film was Back to the Future in 1985, of course, where Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly, but was then fired five weeks into filming, to be replaced by Michael J. Fox, while Lea Thompson stayed.

Anyway, Some Kind Of Wonderful eventually made it to the big screen.

So…

Set within the strict social hierarchy of an American public high school in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, blue-collar mechanic and aspiring artist Keith Nelson is best friends with tomboy drummer Watts.

Just Watts. No other name is given.

No one really thinks about Keith at all, he’s a creepy pale ginger clinging to the edges of the hallways, or hiding in the Art Room and painting bad art, but people do think about Watts. Although, they mostly just think she is a lesbian because she has short hair, as that was still super weird in the 80s. Those same people also act like it’s really weird that she wears boys’ boxers, but that’s not weird either. No. But do you want to know what is weird?

What is weird is the fact that Watts tucks her T-shirt into her boxers.

That is super fucking weird.

Anyway, Keith's father is obsessed with sending Keith to college. Not only would Keith be the first in the family to go to college, but he dreams of Keith getting an MBA and becoming a successful businessman. But Keith’s father obviously doesn’t knows his son at all, because Keith clearly has no head for business, and can barely pay attention in school. He is a sensitive wannabe painter, and all he really cares about is creepily staring at girls from afar.

He especially loves to stare at one girl in particular… Amanda Jones.

Keith is enamored with Amanda Jones.

Amanda is one of the most popular girls in school, and he spends almost all of his time either drawing creepy pictures her or creepily staring at her, because Keith is a creepy stalker. That he otherwise knows absolutely nothing about her, and has never even actually talked to her, and that he only ever stares at her from a distance, doesn’t bother him at all.

He must possess her.

But despite her being one of the super popular girls, running around the halls of the high school with the super popular crowd, regularly enjoying all the perks and privileges of being white, rich, and... surprisingly pretty…

Amanda is not actually a rich kid herself.

In actuality, she lives in the same working-class neighborhood as Watts and Keith, and she mostly borrows her "fashionable" clothes from her rich friends. As a result, much like her best friend, she mostly walks around high school dressed like she’s a middle age woman who’s on The Board at the Des Moines Art Center.

Unfortunately for Keith, even if he wasn’t a creepy stalker clinging sweatily to the shadows and muttering to himself like Gollum whenever she is unlucky enough to be spotted by him, Amanda is dating Hardy Jenns.

Hardy Jenns is the local high school God-King.

Despite clearly being a thirty year old man who works as a hedge fund manager when he’s not going to high school, Hardy treats Amanda as his property, all while fooling around with other girls. Despite having the most fake-sounding name ever, Hardy is your typical 1980s high school movie villain, a rich sociopath, spoiled and selfish, who drives a corvette and has 1980s Jerk-Hair.

Watts, meanwhile, is dismissive of Keith's crush, telling him at every opportunity that he and Amanda are too different, while also pointing out that he doesn’t know her at all, usually while leaning in very close to him, while promising blowjobs with her eyes. Keith is oblivious to this, and eventually she throws a fit that he's ignoring her, hammering out her sexual frustration on her drum kit.

Later, while lurking in the nearby shadows, Keith overhears Amanda getting detention, so he pulls the fire alarm and lets himself get caught, so he can be in detention with her. Unfortunately for Keith, underage teenage child Amanda flirts with the absolute loser of a balding middle-age principal, stopping just short of promising to fuck the grown man, so he lets her out of detention.

Keith finds himself stuck in detention without Amanda, and with all of the school troublemakers, a group mostly made up of POC actors playing characters without names, all of whom are portrayed as either future or current inmates, barely able to contain their violent tendencies, or as outright weirdo freaks. This group is led by a homophobic skinhead named Duncan (played by live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 90s movie uber-icon Elias Koteas).

When Amanda catches Hardy cheating again, she breaks up with him. Keith seizes the moment and asks her out. Amanda accepts, but mainly to spite Hardy.

Meanwhile, seeing Amanda and Keith together makes Watts realize that she loves Keith as more than just a friend. She pretends to like another boy to try and make Keith jealous, but he barely notices. Finally, Watts throws a public crying fit in the club, basically doing a remake of the scene in the first Star Wars movie where Luke angrily stomps away from the table, and Aunt Beru asks him where he’s going and he says, all snotty, “I guess I’m going nowhere,” and stomps off. Watts’ big show is all for naught though, as Keith isn’t just a creepy stalker, he’s a single-minded and selfish little butthole, and the only thought occupying his head at the moment is the possibility that he might finally get to see Amanda naked...

So he’s only vaguely confused by Watt’s display.

As word gets out that Keith is going out with Amanda, his popularity increases, whereas Amanda's declines, and her friends start to ice her out. Hardy, meanwhile, decides to invite Keith and Amanda to his party after their big date, but not as an olive branch, it's so that his brute squad can beat Keith up. Hardy’s OPSEC is for shit though, as he openly planned all this with his brutes while hanging out in the Mall food court and enjoying an Orange Julius, much like how Trump now wages his wars from Mar-a-Lago. Keith’s sister Laura, who’s been holding court over her middle school friends, riding Keith’s new found popularity’s coattails, overhears Hardy’s plans, and she rushes home to tell Keith. Keith believes Amanda is a part of the devious plan too, and he decides to go through with their date and go to the party too, so he can face them both, a misunderstaning which ultimately seems like it was a plot point that was never fully developed, and was then abandoned.

Desperate, Watts offers to teach Keith how to kiss correctly, and the two make out for a bit. Keith is still absolutely oblivious to Watts’ ulterior motives, so afterwards, he thanks her for the help.

Watts throws another fit, and Keith is momentarily confused by this.

He then sets about planning the perfect date to prove he is worthy of Amanda, which is just… the worst ever. First, with Watts in tow, he uses his college money to buy a pair of diamond earrings, and to take Amanda to a fancy restaurant, all while using a fancy old car that if you're not paying attention, you will absolutely miss the one casual throwaway line earlier in the movie that tells you where he got it from. When his dad discovers that Keith’s college fund is empty, he is understandably upset, but Keith makes the dumbest speech ever, which somehow convinces his father to respect his right to make what may be the dumbest decision a teenage boy could possibly make. Next, Keith gets Watts to act as their chauffeur, because he’s an oblivious and selfish asshole, but Watts is such a needy weirdo, she agrees. But it turns out, watching Keith take Amanda to an expensive restaurant, then on an after-hours art museum tour—where he has creepily hung up one of his shitty paintings of Amanda—is something that Watts is absolutely incapable of being cool about, so she throws another fit.

When Keith gives Amanda the earrings, and the pair kiss, Watts is watching from the distance, scowling. I don’t know if there actually was thunder rumbling in the distance during this part, or if that’s just how I remember it.

Finally, after the most excruciating and chemistry-free date ever, they all go to Hardy's 1980s era teen party. But just as Hardy is about to spring his trap, and have his goon squad beat-up Keith, Duncan and his criminal freak show buddies arrive to help him out by basically threatening to murder all the rich kids, and it's then hinted at that maybe the rich mean girl is into weird looking guys, so chin up, my friends. Once the shock and fear brought on by a bunch of Poors showing up at a richj kid party, touching stuff, abates, Hardy is exposed as a coward in front of the whole school, and Keith triumphantly tells him that he is "over“ and then Amanda slaps Hardy.

Twice.

The world now saved, the pair leave the party. Watts then apologizes to Amanda for throwing her various fits, then leaves and starts to walk home in tears. Amanda realizes that Keith and Watts have feelings for each other. She gives the earrings to Keith and tells him that she’s needs to have some Amanda-time, and he should go after Watts. It is at this moment that Keith also realizes he is in love with Watts, so he bids Amanda goodbye, and runs after her. They kiss for real, and since Keith is a creepy stalker who only knows how to love-bomb women, he gives the earrings to her. Watts basically has no self-respect, so she has no problem being given another girl’s gift, and admits that she only helped him buy the earrings in the first place for the same reason that Homer once bought Marge a bowling ball. When she asks how they look, Keith says: "You look good wearing my future."

The End.

A story of love across a class divide–where basically every single person in this movie is at least vaguely familiar in a 1980s kind of way–on the spectrum of the John Hughes‘s era of teen films, Some Kind Of Wonderful is much more of a teen drama than its teen comedy siblings. Despite a few half-hearted jabs at making jokes, the comedy is almost entirely absent here. Which is probably why this film was not as popular as something like, say, Sixteen Candles. But what can you really say about that? Judging by the general state of the genre at the time, I guess people in the 80s just preferred their teen films to have “funny” date rape and racism, and for the most part, Some Kind Of Wonderful just didn’t have it.

And while, hey… points for that… at the same time, Eric Stoltz truly is a creepy lisping weirdo in this film. He’s the entire reason the film doesn’t work. Everything about Keith makes you want to root for the bullies. I don’t know if this film is an indication of why Stoltz was fired from Back To The Future, but it really feels like it is. In every scene in this film, he either seems half-asleep, distracted, or that he’s thinks that he’s better than the project, and it doesn’t feel like these are character choices either. Especially if you look over his career, he seems to always have a consistent style and tone, and that’s what I see here.

The man is anti-charisma.

Luckily, there’s Watts. She’s the clear star here. Lea Thompson got higher billing, sure, and she’s great, but Amanda was a weird non-character in the film, and it‘s in a way where I can’t tell if she was always severely underwritten in the script, or if she was an unfortunate victim of the editing room. I don’t know. Either way, Mary Stuart Masterson is why everyone remembers this film at this point. She’s cooler than this film deserves. But those clunky-soled black shoes, big white socks, and unapolegetic jorts though… and those fringed and fingerless red gloves?

Good lord.

Regardless of that, outside of Watts, the story is bland, unimaginative, and honestly feels like a half-complete, half-assed half-effort.

Watching it now, what struck me the most is how much this film infers its plot points. So much of it seems to come out of left field. Amanda Jones hanging out with the rich kids, hiding how she’s poor, and then all her friends turn their backs on her, and suddenly she’s a poor kid again? There is no mention of any of this in the film until it happens. Nothing. Not a single indication that this was going to be part of the plot. Then, while it’s totally obvious Watts loves Keith, at no moment is there any inkling that Keith thinks of Watts in that way at all, then suddenly two minutes from the end of the film, he’s doing the rom-com chase? As it’s played in the film, it almost seems more like it’s more Amanda’s idea than it is his. She tells him to do it, so he does it. And this is all without even mentioning Keith’s family, who appear enough to be recognizable, but who never actually become characters. I bet most people don’t even remember that Keith has a mom and a younger other sister (played by the abhorrent white Christian Nationalist icon Candace Cameron Bure) after the first twenty minutes of the film, let alone even notice their sudden absence from the rest of the film.

Despite this film supposedly existed to “redeem the failure“ of Pretty In Pink, it‘s clearly the lesser version, an almost complete miss of its very obvious intentions. Watching it now, it‘s understandable why it was the end of the Hughes teen era, the death knell of an otherwise wildly successful streak.

Because like I said, it all feels so half-assed.

What does Keith even want besides Amanda, who he then doesn’t even get? If he wants to go to ”art” school, why did he spend all his college fund? Also, he works as a mechanic, but he can’t get Watts’ old car running? Why are these two elements even included in the story? Plus, honestly, Keith is only ever shown either staring from a distance, or being whiny and selfish, why does Watts even like him? What are his redeeming qualities? And then there’s Hardy, who, despite his propensity for fomenting violence, as well as his openly aggressive possessiveness of Amanda, not to mention his obvious cheating, is one of the weakest 80s teen movie bullies ever. He’s not threatening. He’s not at all charismatic or charming. He seems less like Keith’s bully here, and more like a desperate competitor, who is definitely not going to win. The fact that Amanda is even attracted to Hardy at all just makes her seem less cool, and that she then went from Hardy to Keith? God damn. We know almost nothing about Amanda as a character sure, but it's clear that she definitely has terrible fucking taste in men. The worst sin of all is how incredibly unearned the ending of the film is. Unearned, and yet also so obviously exactly what is going to happen here. That Watts is the clear better choice is the only reason it works at all, otherwise it’s the definition of left field.

In the end, much like Vision Quest, Some Kind Of Wonderful is a nice little nostalgic novelty, a window to a bygone era, an artifact so beloved for its one-time place as the movie that played, the flickering light in a darkened basement, as the blanket-covered humps of a bunch of teenagers busied themselves with a bit of the ol' heavy petting, but now… the film's holes are just too obvious for it to ever be considered an actual “good” movie again.

Still, if you liked it once upon a time, then you’ll probably enjoy the stroll down memory lane at least one more time.