May 28: Take Me Home Tonight

"Four years after graduation, an awkward high school genius uses his sister's boyfriend's Labor Day party as the perfect opportunity to make his move on his high school crush."

Take Me Home Tonight is by no means a great movie, but it is still very entertaining. It's biggest strengths are the cast, led by Topher Grace, and the soundtrack, which features songs from Duran Duran, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Pete Townsend, and of course Eddie Money whose song the movie gets its title from. While the film does have many cliches (one last party, chasing girl of his dreams, over-the-top horndog best friend, daddy issues, etc.), it still has its own unique charm. Although nowhere near the quality of American Pie, Knocked Up, or The 40 Year Old Virgin, it is still one of those raunchy comedies that has some heart. 

And anything Demitri Martin has a part in is worth watching.

Topher Grace plays Matt Franklin, a recent MIT graduate who can't figure out what he wants to do with his life. He works at Suncoast Video, hangs out with his best friend Barry (Dan Fogler) and twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris), while obsessing over Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer), the girl he didn't have the balls to ask out in high school. Of course, Tori comes back to town and invites Matt to the party of the year, hosted by Wendy's dumbass boyfriend, Kyle (Parks and Recreations' Chris Pratt and also Anna Faris' real life husband). Matt takes this as some happening of fate and decides to try and make something happen after pining over the girl of his dreams for years without doing anything about it. Throw in some grand theft auto, a giant ball, and a baggie of cocaine and you can probably put together the rest of the plot (it's obvious, right?). Sure, the whole story has been done plenty of times before and is very predictable, but it still has some very funny moments as well as some surprise cameos. 

The cast also made this amazing music video. 

I'd recommend Take Me Home Tonight just because it's a movie that is clearly aware of what it is, but has a hell of a lot of fun with it. It's no groundbreaking comedy but it's worth a watch. The characters are not deeply developed but the great cast does the best they can with what was written. And, for me personally, after That 70s Show, I'll watch anything Topher Grace is in. Take Me Home Tonight is a good example of a movie you can put on to have playing in the background and then find yourself really watching after ten minutes or so. It's mindless, it's fun, and it is certainly much better than any recent Adam Sandler film (which, sure, isn't hard to be, but still.. give it something). 

The Good:

an excellent cast and awesome nostalgic soundtrack 

The Bad:

a story incredibly predictable and far from original

The Ugly:

a reminder that the 80s is probably the greatest decade in the history of movies and that it will never be beaten or duplicated, but remade and raped

Overall: 6.3/10

Trailer: