Sarah Jessica Parker Movie:

Editorial Review:
Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt dance their way through Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a glorious example of 1980s kitsch. Janey (Parker), the new girl at a Catholic high school in Chicago, dreams of becoming a dancer on Dance TV. With the help of new wave hipster Lynne (Hunt), Janey enters a dance contest and gets paired with Jeff (Lee Montgomery), a rebel in spandex, and the two are soon smitten with each other. Unfortunately, they've made an enemy of a snooty rich girl, who vows to take them down. Everything about Girls Just Want to Have Fun is cheap and cheesy--it doesn't even have the Cyndi Lauper version of the title song--but that doesn't make it any less goofily entertaining, particularly when a debutante ball is wrecked by a bizarre combination of punk rockers and female bodybuilders. Featuring a very young Shannen Doherty as Jeff's little sister. --Bret Fetzer

Girls Just Want to Have Fun Reviews:
He's just uh! You know. I mean uh!
2009-10-20 - Cyndi Lauper had tons of hit singles on her first album, but the most memorable was probably "Girls Just Want To Have Fun." It had a great video and a famous wrestler played her father. Don't ask me who it was, because I don't follow "professional" wrestling, but it was someone well known in that milieau. Was that part of her charm, or was it a career killing mistake, her involvement with the "professional" wrestling world? Whatever. Still, it seems like her first album was chock full o' hits, and her second was a stiff. Anyway, Lauper was quite the quirky character, with an amazing set of pipes, and you would think that a film named after her hit song would have just a little bit of Cyndi in it. In the movie, the song "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" isn't even done by Cyndi Lauper. What a waste. It is like the K-Tell version. In spite of the fact that Cyndi Lauper might have been difficult to work with, the fact that she was excluded kills any credibility the movie would hope to have.

The best thing about it is that Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt are in it, two actresses who would go on to greater stardom. Here they are both very young, but their talent shines through.

Helen Hunt looks like herself, only smaller, younger, but still unmistakibly herself. She plays Lynne, who is kind of the bad girl, the one who flouts all rules and regulations. Besides dancing, her main interest is kissing:

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Lynne: Whenever I'm in a room with a guy, no matter who it is - a date, my dentist, anybody - I think, If we were the last two people on Earth, would I puke if he kissed me?
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Sarah Jessica Parker looks even younger. Who remembers Square Pegs? You can still tell that it is her, but girl does she ever look young. I thought she was a pretty good dancer, and also a gymnast, but they used stand-ins for some of the dance routines. She plays Janey, who thinks mainly of dancing, but she can be swayed, especially when her dance partner is such a cute hunk of beef cake.

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Janey: He's just uh! You know. I mean uh!
Lynne: Is he gonna call you tomorrow?
Janey: Yeah, I think so.
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The funny thing is Lynne knows exactly what Janey means. The boy who exasperates her so is Jeff Malene, played by Lee Montgomery. He went on to have a less than stellar career.

John Silverman was Jeff's pal, Drew Boreman, and he was a social climber, phoney, but endearing nevertheless. If anybody saw a sit com called The Single Guy, well, then, you might recognize Silverman who was the single guy. Here he is so young that you can't guess who he is. He looks familiar, though.

A very young Shannen Doherty was Maggie Malene. I'd call her character 'surley' Temple. She was the bratty younger sister of Jeff Malene, Lynne's dance partner. What if the two most annoying characters got together? Would their annoyance cancel each other's out? Would it be cute and would you go "ahhhhhh"? No. You would not go "aaahhhhhh."

The third most annoying character is Natalie Sands (Holly Gagnier). She is a spoiled rich girl who also wants to win the dance contest and also has designs on Janey's dance partner, Jeff.

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Natalie: [sitting on Jeff's motorcycle] I'm holding this for ransom.
[Jeff gives her a look]
Natalie: Awww, did you and Shirley Temple have a bad rehearsal?
Jeff: Yeah, it wasn't one of the best five afternoons of my life. I'm not really in the mood to shoot the breeze so if you don't mind...
Natalie: *Fine*.
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She gives Jeff an invitation to her Sweet 16 Party, held at the Country Club. Jeff has no interest in going, but Drew Boreman sees it as an excellent opportunity for social climbing, and while getting his tuxedo pressed at the mall he happens upon or is happened upon by Lynne and Janey, who make copies of the invitation and pass them to all and sundry. Not only is Natalie trying to lure away Jeff, she also cheats in the dance contest. So, the prank is more than justified.

There is a montage of Lynne and Janey passing out copies of the invitations to Natalie's party to all kinds of punks and weirdos. Some fall into the gutter, and these women are just coming out of a gym, and they pick the car up so they can get the fallen flyers. Later, at the Sweet 16 the two muscle women pick up a couch with an elderly couple on it and turn it around, for no apparent reason. A boy jumps on the buffett table and kicks a turkey, then wears it like some kind of ugh boot or croc.

If it was meant to be an homage to rebelious youth, it just came off as silly. If girls or boys really want to have fun, instead of this time waster, I would recommend "Absolute Beginners." Directed by Julian Temple, and featuring David Bowie, it is a teen rebellion, music/dance film where the kids are alright.

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Rikki: [carried onto set by 4 muscular guys] Let's all hear it for steroids. And now, the news!
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Sex and the City - The Movie (Special Edition) (2008) Sarah Jessica Parker was Carrie Bradshaw
Smart People (2008) Sarah Jessica Parker was Janet Hartigan
Bobby (Widescreen Edtion) (2006) Helen Hunt was Samantha
Cast Away (Widescreen Edition) (2000) Helen Hunt was Kelly Frears
Pay It Forward (2000) Helen Hunt was Arlene McKinney
Dr. T & The Women (2000) Helen Hunt was Bree
As Good As It Gets (1997) Helen Hunt was Carol Connelly
Ed Wood (Special Edition) (1994) Sarah Jessica Parker was Dolores Fuller
L.A. Story (1991) Sarah Jessica Parker was SanDeE*
Footloose (1984) Sarah Jessica Parker was Rusty

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Janey: Woo!
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well, almost...
2009-08-02 - okay, so i got the DVD in the shipment before the scheduled date, always a plus, but unfortunately, it was, despite not being clarified, Region 1, not Region 4!

almost happy with it, but not being told what region the DVD was in really put a dampner on the person it was bought for.

PG13 not PG
2009-03-05 - i remembered this movie from way back when and thought my niece would love it. however, this movie is rated pg13, not pg as stated. i ordered it for my niece who is 7. i would not have ordered it if the rating stated would have been correct. she will now have to wait a few years to watch.

Not just for Girls!
2009-01-20 - We ordered this movie after Christmas for such a great price. My daughter could'nt wait to watch it. My husband even remembers it and we would sing the songs like dorks that go with it. Turns out it's not just for girls, my son loved it to. What a great family movie at a great price. You can't find these movies anywhere, I clicked on Amazon for my first time this holiday season, now I just love getting all of the old 80's movies to share with the kids. What a great time it was then and these movies are classics! Amazon, I will be always making my movie purchases with you, thank you, Stacy.

Absolutely horrid!
2008-12-11 - Just to clarify - I LOVE 80s movies, and have a pretty decent collection of DVDs representing the era. I got this movie since I haven't seen it before, and I liked main actors in it. But whoever directed this piece did a horrible job, acting is below even one star - I couldn't believe that the same actors - Helen Hunt, Sara Jessica Parker and Shannen Doherty did such good jobs on TV and in movies later in their careers. Sarah Jessica looked like she was trying waaaaay to hard, and Helen Hunt and Shannen Doherty were just... horrible. As far as the script goes... well, it was just empty. Somebody compared this movie to a Center Stage - well, I wouldn't, since there is no good choreography here at all - absolutely NOTHING to look at and enjoy. I got rid of this DVD the very next day after I watched it... Don't waste your time.