No Small Affair (1984)

Waste of time

How sad is this?

Best movie ever!

A Masterpiece!

About halfway through "No Small Affair," there's a scene where Laura, the singer played by Demi Moore, belts out a knockout rendition of the Madeira/Dorsey standard, "I'm Glad There Is You." It's a jazzy paean to romance. Watching the movie again recently, I was jolted when Laura sang the line about "underrated treasures", because it's a capsule description of the film itself. "No Small Affair," unheralded in its day and rarely revived since, is itself a treasure, a gem among the gravel of cynical 1980s films.It's a coming-of-age tale, chronicling the conversion of Charles Cummings (Jon Cryer) from gawky teenager to confident young adult. Nothing new there, except that director Jerry Schatzberg and screenwriters Charles Bolt and Terence Mulcahy have fashioned a charming film that sings with a bittersweet passion about Cummings' wrenching transformation. His catalyst is Laura, the 23-year-old saloon singer played by Demi Moore. With her youthful yet worldly manner, and her scratchy violin voice playing its siren song on Cummings' sensibilities, the lad is a goner. What ensues is a funny and endearing rite-of-passage story with brilliantly clever complications.Cummings -- he prefers not to be called Charles -- is a 16-year-old amateur photographer who likes to shoot pictures of colorful San Francisco locales. One day, when Laura and a friend wander into camera range, Cummings waves them off, but not before he's snapped a few shots of Laura's beautiful face. Seeing that face later in his proof sheets, Cummings is hooked.Infatuated beyond reason, Cummings searches for his new beloved. He begins by staking out the dock where he first saw her. After several hours of fruitless waiting, he sulks: "Someone said, if you stand in one spot long enough, the whole world will pass by. I don't know who said that, but he's an idiot."Fortune finally smiles on Cummings on a night out with his big brother Leonard (Peter Frechette) and Leonard's fiancée Susan (Elizabeth Daily). Armed with a fake ID, Charles joins the pair at a downtown nitery, and there, on the tiny stage, the object of his affections warbles into a hand mike, barely audible above the blare of a heavy- metal band. But the next morning, Cummings' exhilaration at finding Laura is tempered by the news that her band is breaking up, and the lady may wind up out of a job.Worlds above Cummings in sophistication, Laura nevertheless turns to her new friend for comfort when her career goes sour. One afternoon, she accedes to his request to pose for his camera, and we can feel their deepening friendship as the hours pass by and Cummings shoots roll after roll of film, happily taking pictures of this glowing Circe in front of some of San Francisco's most picturesque landmarks. Night falls, and the pair are tired, hungry, and broke. So they decide to crash a wedding reception and help themselves to food and drink. When they are caught by the father of the bride (Hamilton Camp) and threatened with arrest, Cummings makes a deal with the irascible paterfamilias: Let Laura sing for their supper. She does so... and, to everyone's surprise, including Laura's, her rendition of a classic ballad (the above- mentioned "I'm Glad There is You") is a big hit. Who knew this grunge diva could sing pop?This revelation inspires Cummings to take drastic action. Rounding up his life's savings, he pays to have Laura's likeness and telephone number posted on taxicabs all over the city. He's hoping the publicity will attract attention to Laura's talents, but at first it seems only to attract heavy-breathing weirdos. Exasperated, Laura pulls her phone out of the wall. But a newswire service picks up the story about the young fan and his generous gesture and prints it, and soon the phones are ringing off the wall at Laura's old place of business. The bar owner, Jake (George Wendt), pleads with Laura to return and sing at his establishment. She agrees, but she is still furious with Cummings.Laura's "debut", in front of a packed house that includes record company talent agents, is a success. She is offered a recording contract, and the possibility of stardom beckons. But now, in a neat reversal of the first half of the film, the hunted becomes the hunter, as she tries frantically to locate Cummings and thank him.What makes "No Small Affair" so winning is the delicious array of comedy performers director Schatzberg has united for his film. Jon Cryer, making his first film at age 19, has all the right moves, whether making sheep's eyes at his costar or doing a nifty moonwalk upon receiving a bit of good news. Demi Moore, in her first starring role, makes Laura tender/tough, a savvy woman who combines a strong sense of independence with a most touching vulnerability. (In one climactic scene, Laura wraps her arms around her young benefactor and says, "When I grow up, I want to be just like you.") It wouldn't be the last time Demi Moore enchanted a younger man.Among the supporting players, none resonates more delightfully than Judy Baldwin as Stephanie, the elegant call girl Cummings meets at his brother's bachelor party. Baldwin's bit is little more than a cameo, but her luminous and hilarious scene with Cryer will be remembered long after most of the other performances are forgotten.Dan Navarro ([email protected])

This is a movie to insanely love.The story is about "the first love". This naive and dreamy moment in the life of almost everyone of us. However, while choosing not the happy end, the movie doesn't go to make it a massacre of a romance or a sad love story; it showcases an unsuccessful first love that maybe we wanted for ourselves.The treatment gave us the boyish sentimental talented photographer idiot, his victory as a nerdy nerd who kisses the ultimately sexy chick (in fact it's the other way around) right in front of his bully bulls, helping this one-sided love to success in her career, then winning her somehow eventually (at least as a friend), having the hottest innocent separation ever portrayed on screen WITH a smart reference to his next, maybe real, love affair. Can the hardy first love be more lovely ? It's the most successful unsuccessful love story you'll ever see !(Jon Cryer) is utterly believable and most of all funny. With good script he captured the essence of his character, making it a fresh lead more than another stereotype; that might hint about the movie's makers as maybe old geeks who showed themselves as distinct human beings more than a Hollywood easy laughingstock. This characterization had to be a big reason why the movie is respectable for every geek out there, assuring the solid romantic side in them with much verity and love. For opposite instance; in later movie, Napoleon Dynamite, the character is exploited horribly just for the sake of some cheap laughs! Back then (Demi Moore) was SEXY SEXY SEXY (I can go forever !). And the irony between herself and her co-star (age, charisma, way of talking,..) was one of a kind. Thank god that they didn't cast (Sally Field) as it was first intended, the sexual thing would have been totally missed, and the matter shrunken into a mother-son relationship. Enough to recall moments that have her : cursing the French teacher in English-French way, running in the street half naked with only a long coat (searching for that boy who put her on all the city's cabs), and undoubtedly the one when she wakes up to answer the telephone with only blue shirt AND bare legs; this moment is one of the most unforgettable moments in the history of cinema, and those legs represent a part of the best things I saw in my life !The Jazzy songs worked brilliantly. I have them on tape; they're priceless. The My Funny Valentine performance can't be more perfect. Truly aside from being as husky as Demi's, (Chrissy Faith)'s voice is wow. Add to that factors like the wedding's crises, (Jeffrey Tambor)'s delivering, line like (she took my pen!), the catchy cinematography,… I believe the good parts are simply the whole movie; it has a sweet spirit all over it. This is the favorite story of every adolescent with desperate one-side amour, a dream of a doomed first love, and it has inspiring core too; as if the dilemma of that first / from one-side love is just a fair preparation for the real love after, therefore it's wholly no small affair. You have to admire this theory; where being disappointed in love isn't disappointing at all, and the unfinished love already finishes with a next yet complete one. This is extremely optimistic. Rare to watch a movie of this sort nowadays. The 1980s were dreamy enough to comprise these delicate stories.So, with wonderful story, acting, singing, kisses, and legs…I find no bad thing to say. God, even Jennifer Tilly's performance was great !

Nice romantic comedy about a 16 year old guy (Jon Cryer), who likes taking pictures more as he likes girls, but that is going to change when he discovers a pretty girl on the pictures he shot in the harbor. He than falls in love and wants to find this girl, who sings in a rockband, and after some adventures they get an affair, till the point that she has to go to LA for her career, something he helped her with for the price of $6000 (I believe)....Liked the performances of Jon Cryer, Demi Moore and also George Wendt. Although this movie is not that special, I always enjoy it when it's broadcasted.

Cute. Cozy. A dash of sizzle. Jon Cryer is a high school student, who has devoted his life to photography. He accidentally takes a shot of a young woman(Demi Moore)that will become his obsession. Moore plays a singer trying to get her career started. Cryer spends his life savings ($6,000)on putting Moore's picture on 175 taxi cabs. The rest is pretty juvenile.Miss Moore at times is down right sultry and I was disappointed that she was not doing her own singing. The voice you hear is that of Chrissy Faith. In my opinion, Miss Moore is the only good thing to happen to this movie. I admit watching it three times and find the goodbye scene at the airport worth the price of admission or rental. A kiss to remember.Also in the cast are George Wendt, Ann Wedgeworth, Jennifer Tilly and Jeffrey Tambor. Look for a small part for Tim Robbins.