Valley Girl (1983)

To me, this movie is perfection.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

There are a few films that come along that hit you right in your heart. I will never forget Valley Girl. It was truly a special experience. What a lovely cast and fun story!If you haven't seen it, what are you doing? Nicolas Cage is a riot in this one and I have to say, looks pretty good. ;)

Now, I wouldn't consider him that good looking but really, he knows how to act like a teenage punk from the 80's! You actually wouldn't think it was him at all, he kinda reminds me of a greater like character as if the movie is sort of the musical "Grease".Another thing I was surprised about, was Elizabeth Daily aka Blossom from "The Powerpuff Girls" was involved in this. She looked so cute but honestly, they kinda made her be the dumb character when she's actually not. I kinda felt her character was more of a pornstar than just a regular preppy girl. That's just my thinking of it, she's very gorgeous like she's really a talented actress from childhood! It's a good movie, its a good movie to watch with your partner or a group of friends!

Happy 25th Birthday to Valley Girl! Great soundtrack, plausible story, wonderful performances...captures the spirit of the 80's; the slang of the mainstreams and the outcasts. A wonderful rendition of high school life and "gritty downtown" from a suburban perspective.The soundtrack contains songs by Modern English, Felony, Josie Cotton, Sparks, Payola$, Josie Cotton, The Plimsouls, The Psychedelic Furs, Men At Work, The Flirts and Bananarama.This movie truly is Romeo and Juliet (minus the double suicide) set in 1980's Los Angeles. Julie's dad, played by Frederic Forrest (Sonny Bono, anyone?) is hysterical as a hippie idealistic dad who wonders how he sprung such a materialistic offspring. Yet, he doesn't judge, ya dig??

To THE MALL OR BARF ME OUT I feel we are scratching primordial ice in Mallology with any review of Valley Girl set against the backdrop of the mall. The theme was not original: boy meets girl in a clash of cultures and values, but the setting was not a war movie with the focus on unity in diversity but the unifying element of materialism in my favorite place for reflection and relaxation: the mall. A lighthearted, teen angst flick Valley Girl melds a cute romance between two kids from different backgrounds who have trouble attaining acceptance in each other's worlds. Julie Richman (Deborah Foreman) a sweet, rich valley girl develops crush on Randy (Nicholas Cage) a stray alley cat, ie a punk. When Julie's snotty friends disapprove, Julie must choose between her heart and her popularity. The movie not only follows the life of the valley girl and her punk; but her friends too as they shop, party, hang out, and go to the mall. Though Julie and Randy don't have much in common at all, the movie captures the essence of the materialistic eighties: malls, the credit card machines, the punk hair color, in a sweet, intelligent Romeo & Juliet teen flick. Despite suffering from spats of sophomoric silly, corny dialogue and story lines and bad acting, the flick captures the spirit of the times in period characters: vapid mall chicks, pseudo punk rebels and preppy jocks and most especially the period slang in potent, time-specific dialogue: "rad," "awesome," "fabu," "totally," "BARF ME OUT," "OH MY GOSH," "like it is," "AND GAG ME WITH A SPOON!"--- "like you know." Fer Sure, the characters are vapid and shallow. They're like, from the valley, like, you know? Yet if the characters seem lifeless cardboard cut-outs, they represent a plastic mall culture stemming from the nether world of the San Fernando Valley and enaring from late Hippie culture turned opportunistically materialistic. The characters depicted differ little from the rather shallow, adolescents who proclaimed Val culture as an outgrowth of the prevailing hedonism. The pop poster of the time announced: POVERTY SUCKS. Wealth or its appearance of it, fancy hair and flashy clothes ruled. If the plot were unpretentious, it attained its goal of updating Romeo and Juliet and resetting it against the background of the mall with the talk and style of dress carefully portrayed in period pastels. The movie took a *very* common theme and reworked afresh.