About Last Night (DVD)

About Last Night was pretty much based on David Mamet's stage play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" which makes it sound pretty wild (it's not really)! Apparently they couldn't use the same title for the film due to the word "Perversity". It's a film worth watching if you like 80s movies with humor and lots of drama.


'''PLOT TEASER'''

Danny (Lowe) and Debbie (Moore) meet in a bar one night, ...
...have other ideas. Not happy about losing their pals to a full-time relationship (which could potentially lead to marriage God forbid…) they go out of their way to try to ensure that the 2 leads want to have fun and just stay single. Danny's inability to commit to the relationship causes all manner of problems for them, but I won't tell you any more about the plot… But I will say it's one of those "Will they? Won't they?" (stay together) ... more

About Last Night was pretty much based on David Mamet's stage play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" which makes it sound pretty wild (it's not really)! Apparently they couldn't use the same title for the film due to the word "Perversity". It's a film worth watching if you like 80s movies with humor and lots of drama.

PLOT TEASER

Danny (Lowe) and Debbie (Moore) meet in a bar one night, one thing leads to another and they have a one-night stand. They try to make a go of things as a couple but their flatmates/best friends have other ideas. Not happy about losing their pals to a full-time relationship (which could potentially lead to marriage God forbid…) they go out of their way to try to ensure that the 2 leads want to have fun and just stay single. Danny's inability to commit to the relationship causes all manner of problems for them, but I won't tell you any more about the plot… But I will say it's one of those "Will they? Won't they?" (stay together) kind of stories!

ANALYSIS

This is a real all American 80s humorous drama full of clichés of that era. The clothing, the nightlife, the music, the attitudes, all merge together to make this a somewhat enjoyable and rather nostalgic film.

To be honest, I can't say that I particularly empathized with any of the main characters and just wanted to tell them to GROW UP. I like to think I'm fairly independent in my decisions about my love life and somewhat cringed at the thought of being swayed in important decisions by well meaning friends, sometimes with ulterior motives. The film does go some way to prove to us women how much pressure men get from their single pals to stay "young, free and single" and to show men how women try to impress upon their friends that "he's just not good enough for you".

I wonder if we've all been at a stage when we were still single (or maybe still are) and our closest friends were going in the direction of a long term relationship which caused some element of jealousy at our best friend being "stolen" from us? I've experienced this sort of behavior first hand when the best friend of a former partner went out of his way to impress upon my fella just how much he'd be missing out on picking up new girls every night; luckily the ploy didn't work (mostly because it was plainly obvious that he was more worried about losing his free lift home every time he went out drinking), but as we're no longer together, maybe it would have been better had the ploy have worked back then!

Moore looked stunning in this film, which was one of her very earlier roles and carried off her role really well within the realms of her character. Lowe did a great job in his role, both sexy and sensitive to some extent and was very tasty to look at too; although his acting here wasn't his best! Belushi was actually quite hilarious (although personally I can find him rather annoying sometimes in other films) as Lowe's best friend and flat-mate continually trying to put a fly in the ointment and Perkins was more than adequate in her role as Moore's best mate and flat-mate. Mullally was funny in her role as Moore's "other" best friend (it was weird seeing her in this film after having seen her so often in Will and Grace).

Having lots of 80s tunes in the film I thought it worth mentioning that some of the singers/songs included Sheena Easton - "So Far, So Good" and "Natural Love", John Oates "Shape of Things to Come", Jermaine Jackson - "Words into Action" and John Waite - "If Anybody Had a Heart", even more nostalgia for those of us that grew up in that era!

OVERALL

Overall I'd give the film a reasonable 7 out of 10. For 80s nostalgia it was enjoyable, for the music it was enjoyable but don't expect to like the characters too much and don't expect a deep and meaningful story.

TECHNICAL INFO

Starring: Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, James Belushi, Elizabeth Perkins, Megan Mullally
Director: Edward Zwick
Producer(s): Stuart Oken, Arnold Stiefel, Jason Brett
Written by: Tim Kazurinksy, Denise DeClue
Release date: July 1986
Run time: 113 minutes
Certification: 18 (UK) 

...less