Viewed in
2012
Formats
HDTV
Premise
Nicolas Cage stars as a city punk who falls in love with a valley girl (Deborah Foreman).
Loved
Young Nic Cage!!!
Liked
Charming dialog. Likable leads. Good use of high school themes.
Disliked
Weird subplot resolutions.
Thoughts
Cute flick. Probably more enjoyable for those familiar with 1980's, Los Angeles/valley scene.
First thing that stood out was how adorable Cage was as the romantic lead. His likability shined regardless of his "threatening" appearance. It was not intended, but I couldn't help but giggle every time he appeared onscreen. Not surprisingly, he over-acted a bit.
I'm guessing people who grew up in the San Fernando Valley or the 1980's New Wave music scene will get hit with instant nostalgia. I felt like it did a great job of capturing that time and place, especially with that distinctly funny dialect (surprisingly never got tired of it), various valley "landmarks", and of course, music.
While the story is typical "lovers from opposite side of the tracks" kind, the film did a good job of making the characters charming, and highlighting teenage themes with good execution. I enjoyed the themes of high school popularity, cliques, embarrassment, and tying memories to a song.
Other amusing things: they used overly-liberal hippie parents to flip the token "parents just don't understand" thing upside-down, the outdated song "Johnny are you Queer", no Frank Zappa, and the surprising amount of boobs.
The absence of Zappa's classic wasn't the only flaw. I couldn't tell the female lead apart from her valley girl posse at the beginning, her internal conflict (love vs. popularity) wasn't sold well enough, and his douche bag ex was too obvious. The movie also kind of flew off the rails with bizarre subplots involving a Mrs. Robinson-like character, and the ex-boyfriend blackmailing scheme. Their resolutions were even more head-scratching.
For the most part, Valley Girl benefited from its dated feel. It captured a time, place, music, and speech believably and entertainingly. I very much relished seeing young Nic Cage, and enjoyed the teen angst themes borrowed from The Graduate, Romeo and Juliet, and Carrie.
