Movie Review: Take Me Home Tonight

Pelican Beach Productions owner and local promotional film producer, Jonathan Spencer, gives his review on the film, Take Me Home Tonight, starring Topher Grace and Anna Faris.

Before I begin my review of Take Me Home Tonight, there are a few things I should have on record. 

1. I enjoy cheesy romantic comedies.
2. I admire Topher Grace as an actor.
3. I love the 1980's, especially movies with a killer 80's sound track. 

So naturally, Grace's Take Me Home Tonight, would be right in my wheel house.

To be fair, Take Me Home Tonight is not a bad movie, but it is also not a good movie. Where my expectations to high? Honestly, you should never have expectations for a movie like this other than a few hours of mindless entertainment. Anything more than that would be a bonus.

Take Me Home Tonight is set in the summer of 1988 and revolves around three friends on the verge of adulthood who decide to attend a party for one last night of epic celebration. The entire movie takes place over the course of the one night and depicts recent MIT graduate, Matt Franklin (Topher Grace), in constant pursuit of his long-time high school crush Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer). Along for the ride is Franklin's twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) and his best friend Barry Nathan (Dan Fogler).

Unfortunately, Take Me Home Tonight focuses less on the charming and talented Faris, and instead gives Fogler a chance to shine, which, like his characters cocaine addiction, he managed to blow. The script is insanely light and almost patched together from scene to scene.

Almost all of the side stories are forgettable or used for a quick cheep laugh, but what bothered me the most, was the totally unnecessary use of profanity. I have no problem with bad language when used appropriately such as in an action movie or a really dramatic scene. But this film seemed to just drop the F-bomb inexplicably at random times all the time!

Why it truly bothered me was because if the expletives had been removed from the dialog, then the meaning, tone, and emotion of the scene would have stayed the same. To me, that just shows a level of laziness when developing the dialog.

At last, Take Me Home Tonight's saving grace is, Grace! Grace's ability to carry this movie is impressive and a testament to his acting ability. He has some genuine chemistry with his love interest Palmer (who played her part perfectly and not to mention the epitome of every 80's teenage boy's fantasy) and I found myself consistently engrossed in their interactions whenever they came onscreen.

It is through Grace's performance that you are able to take away a message that I believe not only applied back then, but is just as true today.

Grance's character, in the beginning of the film, lies about his job as an investment banker in an effort to make himself more attractive to his high school crush. Throughout the movie, his character struggles with this lie as he attempts to keep up the act. The problem is, his character is truly struggling with what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Once his lie is exposed, his crush is no longer attracted to him creating a chain reaction of carefree actions. Those actions lead him to understanding his place in life and in the end, finally getting his dream girls phone number.

Between cocaine fueled dance-offs, bizarre bathroom exploits, and a gigantic metal ball, Take Me Home Tonight is filled with laughs, an unbelievably good 80's soundtrack and great acting performances by Grace and his love interest Palmer.  But more importantly, Take Me Home Tonight sends a message that "you can't call yourself a failure until you have actually tired to do something; Until then your something even worse." 

At the end of the day, that is a message I respect and enjoy. Mix in the music and laughs and it is a completely enjoyable film, even if Hollywood has made it 100 times before.

Movie: B
Soundtrack: A