The new comedy “Take Me Home Tonight” plops audiences smack dab in the ’80s.
Again.
We’ve already traveled back to the Me Decade via that “Hot Tub Time Machine,” not to mention “The Wedding Singer,” “Adventureland” and, to a lesser degree, “Music and Lyrics.”
If “Tonight,” opening March 4, fizzles at the box office it might be the last time we revisit the Reagan years on screen in such a wink-wink fashion. “Time Machine” tanked last year, and two clunkers in a row will tell Hollywood to lose those shoulder pads and skinny ties, fast.
But what about the ’90s?
Is it too soon to crank up the Jesus Jones, tug on that Spice Girls T-shirt and rewatch “Reservoir Dogs” for the 56th time? Do the ’90s have enough of an identifiable mojo to even mock? Yes, the decade gave us the rise of the Internet, reality television and the irresistible “Groove is in the Heart” song/video. But is that enough fodder for a big screen nostalgia ride?
Our popular culture often takes a 20-year gap before it embraces a past decade. In the 1970s, “Happy Days” celebrated the ’50s. But we’re an impatient bunch which often gobbles up the past at an alarming rate. Why not revisit the ’90s?
And if not, what about the aughties? Too soon? Or too little to tease?
Does the end of the ’80s nostalgia boom also mean the end of the nostalgia cycle? Films will always go back to the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s to tell a story, some of which will flood the screen with pop culture touchstones. And some future movies will certainly take place in the ’90s. But will a ’90s-era movie have the giddy fun of Adam Sandler warbling his heart out to Drew Barrymore?
(Photo: Topher Grace gets lost in the crowd during a dance club sequence in “Take Me Home Tonight.” Relativity Films)
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Maybe if they made movies in more of an homage like American Graffiti did and less of a wink-wink fashion they might have more success at the box office. I say that as someone who dug Hot Tub Time Machine more than I thought I would, too, and as a huge fan of Wedding Singer, aka the only movie about the 80s I can think of which got its soundtrack true to its mid-80s time-frame. Well, at least closer than the idjuts behind Take Me Home Tonight who plopped break-dancing into 1988.
As for the 90s, methinks filmmakers will be hard-pressed to capture the mood of something like Singles, which perfectly nailed so much about the decade.
P.S. While having a decent enough premise (and Judy Greer), 13 Going on 30 blew chunks, and for more than that “Thriller” dance routine.
I’d like to hope so.
The problem I find with many of these types of films is that they spend too much time trying to showcase they’re in the decade they are portraying by adding lazy dialog. In the 90s case it would be things like
“Bill Clinton, who’s that?” or “Hey did you hear about OJ?” and similar types of dialog.
I’m with Eric. If its more of an homage it works. The basic plot of American Graffiti could be taken and put into any decade and not lose it’s charm. The 50’s were a setting but not the overall point.
And yes there is much that can be covered. I just don’t think it will happen until some of the lower tier managers who are younger at these companies get into positions of authority to make those decisions. After all, then it will be their nostalgia.
Exactly, drewster. Similar problem plagues so many modern comedies, too. The Austin Powers movies has Mike Myers referring to his jokes far too much (you really don’t need to do an aside letting people know the band you’re referring to, Mike), and I would have enjoyed Simon Pegg’s Spaced a whole lot more had they not been so infatuated with constantly reveling in their pop culture references.
Pop culture references are snarky and fun and … easy. Good comedy is timeless. A ‘where’s the beef?’ shout out? Not so much.
The funny thing is Hollywood panders to the 18-24 year old crowd. Yet ’80s nostalgia speaks to my generation, not exactly HipsterNation.
Yup, always easy to pander to the current 18-24 year-olds who likely gleaned their history from “I Love the 80s.”
Plus is kinda dates the film. I know that doesn’t make much sense on the surface but like I said before, American Graffiti is timeless in the sense that 50’s are a setting and not the whole purpose of the plot.
When you name drop every other sentence and go out of your way to include cheap dialog (“they should invent a machine which duplicates paperwork”) you date the film.
I think a film on the 90’s which is designed similar to American Graffiti would work on so many levels, if it’s done right and not sent through the hollywood meat grinder known as marketing.
And, being a product of the 90’s, something I’d pay to see in the theater.
Totally noticed 90s nostalgia in Zombieland!!
Being an oldster from the 80s, I want to love these homages to that wonderful time. However, they usually suck so bad it hurts. I also loved The Wedding Singer, so that one gets a pass. HTTM was so disappointing to watch. Cusack with his dour face and downer dialogue made me so mad, I wanted to go buy a dog so I’d have something to kick. I know most people aren’t wowed by Topher Grace, but I think he has some light comedy charm, and even though I know I’m most likely assured to be disappointed, again, I will probably check this out sooner rather than later.
The 80’s were boring as there was no innovations to carry it over but the 90’s were the start of a transition of sound and science. Music took a turn with grunge, cell phones started to make an appearance and computers started to take off.
80’s boring? Hardly. Cold War taking us close the edge as the mighty Reagan stared down a run of Soviet leaders, technology en masse in the home (computers, answering machines, VCRs), MTV radically transforming how music was marketed, rap and heavy metal emerging as viable sellers … and those are just off the top of my head at 8 in the morning.
Anyone who says the 80s were boring couldn’t have been paying attention. The advent of cell phones? Music videos? Great block buster movies? And if nothing else, the weight of depression the 70s had saddled us with was gone. Morning in America, indeed. That said, there were many great things that were exciting about the 90s, too. The internet being the most dominant.
I’m a filmmaker going to college in the fall. Maybe I’ll be one of the people to bring the 90s back in theaters. lol.
I started to notice that many films in a certain decade are set in 50s, 60s, 80s, or 2000s. As most of you mentioned: films like “Hot Tub Time Machine”, or the tv show “Happy Days”