Thursday, January 18, 2018

Script review - "Some Kind of Wonderful" by John Hughes

Hughes' last teen film is a re-do of Pretty in Pink with the sexes changed around - but by this stage he was really digging into character so it feels fresh. There's some strong protagonists - Keith the art loving mechanic from the poor side of town, Amanda Jones the stunner who is poor but also dates the rich and popular Harvey, and Watts (here called "drummer girl" in character headers) the tomboy dummer with the lousy home life who loves Keith.

The support character includes Hughes' best ever villain, Harvey Jenns, who has a superb line in passive aggression, and Keith's sister, who gets some superb lines, Duncan the eloquent skinhead, and Shayne, Amanda's friend, who turns on her. I would've liked to have met more of Amanda's family to get more of a fix on her.

I've always loved this movie.  The plotting is a bit iffy - after Keith asks Amanda out, he kind of hangs around her a lot; and I never bought it that he fell for Watts. I know they kissed but really the last date is all about Amanda rather than Watts... It would have been nice had he had a realising-he-liked Watts moment before the end. It felt as though it came in a rush.

Some interesting things in the script that were different in the film - here Harvey gets his comeuppance by asking his friends to beat up Keith at the party, which results in everyone turning their back on him and leaving... which feels unbelievable and not real; the film changed it for the better by having Duncan and his friends arrive. There's more stuff between Shayne and Amanda (we see their reunion), and a sequence where Amanda and Shayne see Watts buy some clothes before the date (which felt like an odd scene especially as it was after Shayne had kicked Amanda to the curb). Also there's a line where Watts says she's going return the earrings so Keith can go to art school, which relieved me.

Still, a very fine script and it's easy to see why it was loved. Marvellous dialogue; some brilliant scenes like the kissing one.

No comments: