But then so doesDirty Dancing,Top Gun,Ghostbusters,Back To The Futureand Eddie Murphy.
So what makes 80s movies so special?
That line inThe Truman Showabout accepting the reality with which were presented?
Well, its hard to say.
I grew up thinking this is what movies were like.
I guess it was probably towards the end of the 90s withShes All That.
And I looked at this film which is funny, and appealing.
Im not completely dissing it.
But theres that bit when Freddie Prinze Jrs characters sister makes over Laney in the film.
And I thought this is bullshit!
What is this message that were sending?
Then when Freddie Prinze Jr doesnt recognise her at the dance.
What the heck is this?
Theres no way any of the girls I grew up watching in films would put up with this nonsense.
Its so mental, isnt it?
The ending is vile I think.
Then the 90s repeated the trick.
The 80s feels like the nice bit of the sandwich.
Maybe as a reaction to how dark younger films were getting?
Certainly so much of it came from John Hughes.
Look at the other teen films that came before.Risky Businessis a completely insane movie.
Its amazing to go back and watch it now.
I thought this film makesPretty Womanseem normal.
It was totally bonkers.
It was really John Hughes who came alone and softened a lot of this stuff.
A lot of credit goes to him.
So once other filmmakers saw that it worked with John Hughes, they all copied it.
That worked for the decade.
And then it kind of stopped.
It stopped slightly withHeathersa bit.
People say thatHeathersstabbed the John Hughes genre.
I dont really see that.The girls inHeathersarent the least bit John Hughes-y.
It certainly stabs the conventions and the cliches, the canteen and the cliques, that stuff.
Not that that stuff has ever died out in teen films.
But in terms of the power of the geek, that was never done byHeathers.Heathersdidnt touch that.
It was really more films likeCluelessin the 90s, andBeverly Hills 90210.
Did you ever see the TV showFreaks & Geeks?
I love that show so much.Somuch.
You talk about Judd Apatow a lot in the book…
Im quite hard on him, its true.
Freaks & Geekswas the starting point for Judd Apatow really.
But then Paul Feig was at the heart of the show.
I talked to him when his last film,The Heat, came around.
The reason he doesBridesmaidsandSpywas in a way to move away from where the popular light was shining.
A John Hughes parallel in a way.
But we have filmmakers now who could make great geeky movies, who are shying away from such material?
Theyre talking about cool geeks, hipsters.
Paul Feig, I completely understand where hes coming from.
And hes more interested now in getting a female presence in movies, and obviously I completely salute that.
Him and Melissa McCarthy are taking over cinemas.
You dont want to be defined forever by how you were as a teenager.
All of us have to grow out of that at some point.
I had this idea for another book that was kind of about 80s movies too, but more fictionalised.
But I thought I dont need to be constantly writing about 80s movies and their influence on my life.
The movies today that I see, the teen movies, they dont celebrate the kids who have nothing.
I think thats a real loss to be honest.
I think the stakes have changed too.
Id take that a step further.
It wouldnt be about a kid trying to keep his parents together any more.
Itd be about saving the world.
Whereas obviously withFerris Bueller, the car iseverything!
Back To The Futurenow, a time travelling teen, you could sell that tomorrow.
But itd be such a different movie.
My muse: I wish.
Thats such a compliment to me, the idea that shes my muse.
I think she was amazing.
I love her books so much.
I agree: her movies got lesser and lesser for me.
The peak isWhen Harry Met Sally, and I also loveSilkwood.Youve Got Mail?
It feels very flimsy.
I dont like it at all!
The romance between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is kind of creepy to be honest.
That often happens in movies that arent really well thought through.
And hes totally fine with it!
This movie has lost its connection to real life.
I think Ken Loach could do a really good left wing version ofYouve Got Mail.
I would quite like to see the Ken Loach version.
When Harry Met Sally, theres not a moment you dont believe.
Its just perfect to me.Julie And Juliais really nice.
But for me, the peak is the 80s with Nora Ephrons films.
Reading her written work was a revelation too.
Its on my list.
Ive just readI Remember Nothing.
Thats a lovely book.
She was really quite ill when so wrote that too.Heartburnis an amazing book about divorce.
She was an amazing writer.
But accessibility is the other thing thats changed radically.
Was your contained accessibility, and your local video shop, pivotal to your early love of films?
I still remember all the shelves in the shop.
Now the more interesting films are released by indies.
Isnt that strange, though?
They just do the massive big budget things, rather than the mid-range things.
Theyre hedging their bets.
A lot of people i.e.
me dont have any interest in seeing Michael Bay films.
I find them so mind-numbing.
Theyre hilarious, on certain levels, but also too many explosions, theres no script.
Id rather go seeFerris Buellers Day Off, even though Ive seen it a billion times by now.
Those people arent really being catered to by the studios.
Even a relatively cheap film,Jack Reacher, cost Paramount $60m to make.
The mid-range has pretty much gone.
It means whole genres are gone.
Mid-range means rom-coms, teen films, some comedies.
A big budget film now is a massive action sci-fi thing.
Thats all they make now.
Its because those films are easier to translate when they ship them overseas.
A lot easier to translate thanWhen Harry Met Sally.
But it seems like a real loss.
Theyre making these movies that all look the same.
He had to go hunting to get the money to get his film made.
And in a way you think its almost karma.
Spielberg and Lucas almost kickstarted the whole blockbuster thing, and now its overtaken them in this insane way.
They cant even make their more interesting films!
Ive never come across anybody quotingTransformersor evenX-Men.
I dont hateX-Menat all.
Ive seen all theX-Menfilms and theyre really good.
But you dont go around quoting them, like people quote Indiana Jones.
I dont think I could say that about Michael Bay.
The directors who are given big films, the trust from studios doesnt seem to be fully there.
And filmmakers lose the trust of studios so quickly.
If you make one bad film, youre gone.
A spectacle, something you could sit back in your seat and get lost in.
Rather than this idea of a movie taking over the world.
Most of the time throughout your book, you call them 80s movies, rather than 80s teen movies.
Do you regard a lot of the 80s films that you talk about as teen films?
No, not at all.
But I still enjoy these films on the same level as when I first saw them.
And when I saw them, I was around 8.
And I immediately connected with the heartfelt emotions, the desperation of Duckie, to Andie inPretty In Pink.
Which is why I dont see them as teen films.
I see something more like theAmerican Piefranchise as teen films.
Theyre aimed more at teenagers, theyve got the sex, the raunchy humour.
And at first, the films were about teenagers.
To me, thats more of a teen film.
I made my boyfriend watch a lot of these films with me, and hes slightly younger than me.
But he could still connect with Duckie or with Eric Stoltzs character.
Theyre films, for me, that are for everybody still.
If theres a thread thats running through family movies now, for better or worse, its loneliness.
Hollywood seems to do it well, too.
Primarily kids facing solitude.
You talk about the 80s films aimed at a similar audience as having a spine of fun to them.
I went to a screening ofInside Outthis week, the new Pixar film.
Its a really sophisticated film as youd expect from these guys.
And its about a little girl slowly losing control of her emotions.
The films message is ultimately that sadness is an essential part of growing up.
To me, they say nothing, and its really Pixar where you get the real emotions.
I find that weird.
That we assume that adults cant cope with these strong messages.
Theres almost an assumption from studio films that parents arent very good parents.
That messages have to be hammered very hard.
At the back of the book is a list of movies that you say you didnt talk about properly.
I keep thinking of all the films Ive left out!
One of them wasLucas, a movie barely talked about.
I always assumed it had naughty stuff in it.
But what did I miss?
For some reason, I never caught up with it again.
Oh, gosh.Lucasto me is… Im not dissing John Hughes, orBack To The Future.
ButLucasto me is the purest film of the 80s.
The emotions are just throbbing on the screen.
Its got the most amazing teen cast.
Corey Haim, Charlie Sheen, Winona Ryder… all of them are so great in that film.
Its nearly the first film for all of them.
Theyre so great in it, and you think of whats happened to them since.
It just breaks your heart.
Corey Haims performance is so incredible.
And you just think of what happened to him.
And it turns out hes extremely poor and has a terrible home life.
In a funny way its likeRushmore, the Wes Anderson film.
His character is so much like Jason Schwartzmans character inRushmore.
Hes an amazing figure in the school, and spins all these lies about his home life.
Then the kids realise later what happened.
The scene with Bill Murray in the barber shop inRushmore… its so amazing.
Winona Ryder plays the girl whos secretly in love with him, and he doesnt notice.
Then Charlie Sheen plays the sensitive jock, which I think is the biggest stretch he ever made.
It wasnt able to ride the teen movie bandwagon of the 80s.
The music was clearly done on someones Casio keyboard.
But Corey Haim, hes so gorgeous in it.
Its hardly a big [time] gap, but you see this hardening coming over this kid.
And Ive seen a lot of Corey Haim films.
To watch his descent is just heartbreaking.
Something happened to him after that film, and it just cut him off from his emotions.
Theres noone in it to hate.
Also, Jeremy Piven is in it as the school bully.
Its so right for him!
Hes pretty good in it, in that way that Jeremy Piven surprises you sometimes!
Ive spent 20 years assuming it was full of filth I was never allowed to watch it!
Oh my god its like the opposite of that.
I thought I was going to get something likePorkys!
Oh, no.Porkysis so bad.
Its worse thanRevenge Of The Nerds, and thats a low bar.
I think they should just have avoidedPorkys1 as well…!
The idea that it was seen as a classic!
Because it goes hand in hand to an extent.
Im all about enthusiasm.
I dont want someone going in who goes ah, you know, action films are kind of stupid.
This guys slightly better than normal, but whatever.
I dont understand that sort of thing.
I think enthusiasm is good.
I think its cool.
And thats not what I grew up reading.
I moved to this country when I was a teenager, and immediately took out a subscription to Empire.
What I loved about Empire was every month there was the greatest whatever for movies.
WhenPulp Fictionwas released, I honestly thought Empire was going to explode.
Its fun to be a fan, to be really into something.
Even when writing this book.
Someone said that she covers the naffer end of the spectrum, likeDie HardandTop Gun.Die Hard!
In what way isDie Hardnaff?
I thought everyone watched it at Christmas.
I dont understand that phrase.
Heroin maybe that would be a guilty pleasure.
I can understand why you wouldnt be so proud of liking that.
Its a really kickass film.
I dont get it.
I loved, by the way, that you mentioned Eddie Murphys outstanding performance inBowfingerin the book.
I think its his best.
He so should have got the Oscar for that.
I cant believe he was nominated forDreamgirlsinstead.
That was soooo boring.
ButBowfinger, he was amazing in it.
Its incredible what he can do in that film.
What he does inBowfingeris really hard.
You go back to something like Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin inAll Of Me.
What they both do is incredibly hard too.
Yet because theyre comedies, awards snobbery and mainstream snobbery kicks in.
Your book swims against that.
I just dont understand it.
Ive got so many favourite films, but one I watch around once a month isComing To America.
What Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall do in that is off the charts crazy.
They then completely ignore Eddie Murphy.
InBowfinger, youcompletelybelieve its two different people, even though they look exactly the same.
Thats whats so crazy about it.
Its so heartbreaking that, but its true.
He can only doThe Nutty Professor, he can only do the geeky brother inBowfinger.
Other than that, he sort of wants to be Denzel Washington.
I dont care about Denzel Washington, I care about Axel Foley!
you’re free to be funny Eddie, you dont need to apologise for it.
But really, comedy is so much harder than drama.
I have to ask.
You talk in the book about Bill Murray giving you a noogie.
Er, whats a noogie?
[Laughs] I didnt realise this was an American word.
I looked it up, but Im still none the wiser!
Then you rub it.
Its an American thing!
Like you do if youre a dad with your little son.
It can be painful if youre a bully, but it can be a sign of affection.
Its really just an immature thing to do.
Its a jokey thing.
The way youve described that, it sounds like Bill Murray punched you in the head.
[Laughs] He didnt punch me in the head.
I can promise that.
He was slightly bemused by me.
He did this other thing, which I didnt put in the book.
He gave me this noogie, and then I said ImreallysorryMrMurraycanIgetsomequotes.
And he said really loudly, look at you, you look so ill, here, here.
And he gave me a really tight hug so I couldnt speak.
He said youre babbling, youre out of control, poor you.
And I tried to talk, and he said no!
Youre babbbling nonsense again!
[Laughs]
I thought I cant put all of this in.
Well, Id putObvious Child.
I really did enjoy that film a lot.
Its not a teen film on any level, its just a very sweet film.
The problem with it is that it makes this big deal about abortion.
But I thought the humour was very honest, and its the kind of film I like to see.
Then there was another indie film,Appropriate Behavior.
That too felt like it was made by someone whod watched a lot of 80s films.
That was about a girl who hadnt really found her place in the world, all the usual cliches.
But in a very honest way, that felt emotionally true.
Can I go back to the 90s?
If youre going to sayCongo.
Congois a classic film.
So thats when the movies felt to me like they had emotion, sex and women in them.
Now, thats so rarefied.
I lovedThe Royal TenenbaumsandRushmore.
Finally, then, I have to ask: your favourite Jason Statham movie?
[Laughs] This is a really terrible admission, but I havent really got into Jason Statham.
Its not that I dislike his films, I just havent watched his movies!
The man I live with loves Jason Statham, and Ive somehow always avoided seeing his films.
The only one Ive watched isLock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.
But I think thats a bad answer, so Ill saySpyfor the moment.
I havent seen it yet, but I know Im going to love it!
Hadley Freeman, thank you very much!
