It wasn't until this class that I discovered the famous Guitar Hero commercials were influenced by Tom Cruise's Risky Business. I know, shoot me later. Due to my lack of knowledge of 80's films, I naturally related Risky Business to the nerdy sexually frustrated, angsty teen film movies like Kick Ass and Superbad.
Paul Brickman has a major case of auteurism. For those of you who don't know, auteurism is when a director has a specific trademark "stamp" they use in their films. It could be editing, or a cameo. For example, one of Alfred Hitchcock's bits was to appear in his films. M. Night Shyamalan's is to base his movies around his hometown, Philadelphia. Brickman's is to just show off that he's an awesome director. Rather than a teen movie about a college oriented student, it seems Brickman enjoys taking advantage of the fact that he's a director. Yeah, you're movie was cinematically smooth, but I want Joel's story. I didn't feel like there was much depth between Joel and Lana. In fact, there were lots of scenes where there wasn't much dialogue, or there would be one line, and the characters would just stare at each other.
Brickman has a playful humor to his style, which I would have probably appreciated in some other movie. The character Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) had too many outfit changes and was just plain annoying. Although I sympathized for Joel, I really wanted him to kick her out. Prostitutes, as we have learned from Pretty Woman, are just plain needy. Also, I wasn't completely sure about what the film was trying to say. Originally, I thought it juxtaposed sex with college. Too much indulgence in your teen fantasy can affect your future? What did Joel even learn from this experience? I mean, he got into Princeton and has his parents are only on his back for a crack in the egg, so his life hasn't been made any more difficult with any consequences. Risky Business wasn't an awful film, I just recommend watching it on a day where you have nothing better to do and a lot of patience to spare.
One of many Risky Business parodies!
1 comment:
I have to share your point of view. When I first saw it as a 17 year old boy, I thought it was a great film.
When I watched it 10 years ago, I was bored out of my mind.
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