St. Elmo's Fire

Imagine an angstier version of TV's "Friends" set in the 80s and you've pretty much got this.

I honestly thought this movie would be a lot worse. The issue is that you have a bunch of different character stories that this movie is trying to tell at once. It is a hard thing to do, and Elmo struggles a bit here. Lowe, Moore and Estevez's characters are all interesting to me. Estevez is nuts, but I guess it shows what you might do if you are enfatutated enough with someone. Some of the endings are a little messy and not clear cut or believable, but still not too shabby.

For the music alone, I really liked this film. Good cast and more than enough 80s charm. The plot is mostly unfocused rambling about unrequited love and unsympathetic behavior, but as a whole it worked alright for me in the end. I can understand why some might not like it. Estevez' love escapades in this are among the weirdest I've ever seen in a film.

Holy crap, this is so 80s-tastic. As someone who's seen The Breakfast Club literally probably a hundred times over decades and only just now seen this movie once in 2014, it is SO WEIRD seeing 1985 Judd Nelson play a character who isn't John Bender.

For a high-dose injection of eighties teen angst, check out this Brat Pack-vehicle. Its ostensible detriments (sentimentality, clichés, insistent saxophone-based score) against great odds combine into something borderline irresistible. The moment where Estevez decides to make his move on MacDowell is classic. Way to go, Emilio.

The Brat pack is in full force here. It tries to come off as deep and introspective but it really just comes off as melodramatic and whiny. Still there is just enough 80s charm to keep it from being bad.

So much sax

Very much of its time. Set firmly in the mid eighties its now as much a documentary on those times as anything else. Characters are well played without being likeable and there are a handful of very funny moments.

Annoyingly poor.

A very average 80's movie. Nothing shocking or mindblowing, and ends on one of those "we have so many options" notes.

An unpopular opinion, but I think I’ll take this BREAKFAST CLUB echo over its inspiration – certainly a flashy and superficial film telegraphing its plotting with the subtlety of a sledgehammer (as Moore swigs from the vodka bottle, you can already predict the climax), but the energy of the cast is infectious, and especially with the distance of 40 years, there’s an undeniable nostalgia boost in seeing the Brats at the peak of their powers (and Moore and Lowe do legitimately fine work).

Lots of familiar faces here, but it's Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez with the real star power. I'll never understand why anyone would be infatuated with Andie MacDowell; she's so annoying, in everything.

It’s essentially a novel in the form of a movie. If you can get past the selfish immorality, you start to realize that these are all messed up individuals who are trying to fake it through life but haven’t got a clue.

A story about transitioning from college into adulthood, and all the petty little conflicts you have to move past... except that what the movie thinks are petty little conflicts are actually life-destroying problems!? These "friends" sexually assault one another, regular assault one another, stalk people, burn bridges, trash their livelihoods, and attempt murder! Plus they're all 80s upper-middle-class wannabe rich kids who look down on the poor! An extremely bad Relatable Coming of Age Story.

Trash

The story is nothing spectacular, with most of the plot revolving around indeterminate time-jumps & various incidents in the lives of each character that either do or don't serve much purpose in the grand scheme of things. The performances, however, are great all-around, & the themes of friendship & the ties that bind us together even when we feel further apart are as resonant now as in the 80's. Though not amazing, it's a solid slice-of-life movie with a loaded cast & a memorable theme.

A depressingly empty experience, even by the shallow standards of 80's commercial cinema. It's a dumb and cynical exercise in star driven hokum that pretends to address the anxieties and fears of the self absorbed young in transition, but it takes an entirely uncritical stance towards their bourgeois worldview and reeks of false wisdom. The performances range from ordinary to outright bad--only McCarthy makes any kind of impression--and the writing barely resembles how real people actually talk.

rvw. i liked moments enough to bump from 65. i liked the friendship shtuff. and how it felt like a rushed few seasons of a show lool. and boh was the creep of the century

An 80's soap opera with irritating characters and a blaring soundtrack.

I love the brat pack and although this film isn't the best I've seen I would definitely reccomend it. It tackles a lot of emotional problems and includes a good balance of funny and thoughtful.

Stalk someone you're admittedly obsessed over and she'll not only appreciate it but make out with you

A rare example of a film that teaches about life. Should be a required viewing for all twenty-somethings.

Rob Lowe may look handsome at 50, or whatever he is these days, but in this movie you witness the origins of his studliness . . . the Brad Pitt of his day. The movie has some well written surprises. I didn't see the twist in which the arstsy guy turns out not to be gay. I found the whole thing decent, a lot more fun than The Big Chill, but the premise of these extremely disparate personalities comprising a friend group to begin with is preposterous. (So, no-- IRL you didn't miss out.)

I wanted to like it so much. But... nope.

Schumacher could not have known he was making an iconic film with an iconic soundtrack and iconic actors that someone like me, forty years later, could get this wistful about, but maybe that's my biggest criticism. My nostalgia deserves a better movie than this. Despite these shortcomings, I enjoyed this movie and will likely see it again. If not the 10,000,000 times I've seen The Breakfast Club, then perhaps just a few thousand.

Alright - Not Good enough to be High class, but at the Same Time Not Bad enough Not to be watched again sometimes. Simply Bratpack movies!

It's hard to care about this group of unpleasant people. It was ok, and not as bad as I had expected.

I kinda wanted to like this, but it was terrible.

With so many plot lines going on at once, you'd think I'd care about more than one (Kevin's story.) But that's what happens when you've got a movie where most of the characters aren't particularly likable.

#11#, liked, casting, oldies(2) }*{ #80s#, story, casting.

59.250

It's not terrible.

All star cast acting a bunch of assholes. If this plot summary is in fact official, then it's the most honest I have ever seen. Also, this film is unbelievably '80's'. I kind of like that.

Bad acting, bad script. Everyone was always talking about marrying each other or having sex with each other. Then one of them goes bad and it sorts everything out?!

At least it's better than the very similar Big Chill.

I wish they still made brat pack movies... Great slice of life, great performances, very 80's.

Hints of something very good, but awful.

Like John Hughes, Joel Schumacher has struck gold with this cast.

Let's make a movie full of 2 dimensional characters that all make the audience hate them? Sounds good!

Overblown, whiny sentiment. Does anyone really care about any of these people?

Excellent

Not every Brat Pack movie aged well.

Saw this in 85 & was bored.

I'm sorry, but there's just way too many cast members from the Breakfast Club for me to take this seriously. Nothing wrong with the Breakfast Club, but after that movie I think you gotta try not to cram them ALL into a movie the NEXT year. *is glad he wasn't a teen in the 80's*

The Brat Pack in one of their better outings.