St. Elmo's Fire (1985)

It's Not All That Bad!
I can't argue with the negative reviews, but I am somehow strangely drawn to this movie. Perhaps it is because I was in my late 20s when the movie was originally released, and I hung out with a group of friends who were somewhat similar to the characters in St. Elmo's Fire. We even hung out in a bar (Z's Sports Tap in Chicago, since torn down and replaced by a highrise building) where we were regulars. I like to think we weren't as shallow and useless as the characters in this film, but we were all trying to find our way after being out of college for a few years. Now we are all fat, with kids, living in the suburbs; so I guess the attraction of this movie is to recall our "youth." By the way, it does have a pretty good soundtrack. Strictly 80s!

Who are we kidding...
...if you're even looking at this movie, then you probably have seen it and, come on, let's face it - this is a classic for anyone born between 1960 and 1980. Watched just after I bought it and made me feeling 10 years younger. Just go ahead and buy it.

Good for 80's nostalgia---but not much else
St. Elmo's Fire is a coming-of-age movie that will have a certain nostalgic appeal to anyone who was a teenager or a 20-something in the mid-1980s. It will be of limited interest to anyone else, unless you are excessively interested in the pop culture of that era.

The main characters of St. Elmo's Fire are seven recent college graduates who are beginning their professional lives. As other reviewers have noted, these people aren't credible as an ensemble of friends---nor are they particularly believable on their own merits. Somewhere in this mess is a story about the transition from adolescence to adulthood; but the inconsistent characters and disjointed plotlines distract the viewer from the larger themes.

To cite just one example: Emilio Estevez's character, Kirby, develops a severe infatuation with an older woman. He acts out his obsession in ways that would disturb anyone, even threatening the woman's roommate at one point. But the woman who is the object of his desires seems to regard these antics as vaguely cute. People were not quite as sensitive about stalking and sexual harassment in the 1980s as they are today; but this behavior would have been over the top even then. No woman would have tolerated this, much less found it endearing.

Demi Moore's character, Jules, is a compulsive liar who becomes addicted to cocaine. No adequate explanation is ever given for her behavior. Throughout the movie, she moves from one unexplained crisis to the next. Nor does the partial resolution of her conflicts at the end of the movie make any sense.

I watched this DVD with high expectations. I was a teenager in 1985; and I remember that this movie was heavily hyped at the time. But after spending 108 minutes on St. Elmo's Fire, I could not help thinking that I might have gone another 22 years without this experience---- and been no worse off.