One Crazy Summer (1986)

Another teen comedy that pairs director Savage Steve Holland with John Cusack, One Crazy Summer may not hit the heights of their best work (no matter what Cusack might think of the one I prefer), but it's a fun time for fans of many of the main cast members. And there are a few stars given some time to shine in this.

Cusack plays Hoops McCann, a young man who seems to be a bit lost after the end of his high school days. He does a decent job of creating cartoons, but that's not necessarily the way to set himself up for a great future. Or maybe it is. Anyway, Hoops ends up spending a summer holiday on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, in the company of a bunch of outcasts who will be there to help when the time comes to teach a lesson to the irritating and smug Teddy Beckersted (Matt Mulhern).

Savage Steve Holland just knows how to make me happy, whether or not he's successful in everything that he tries to do. This film feels like much more of an ensemble piece than a controlled and focused directorial vision, although that's maybe just the feeling you get when all of these people are together and having fun with each other, but it's certainly none the worse for it, with Holland making the most of his assembled talent to craft some fun narrative strands and enjoyable set-pieces (one Godzilla homage is so hilariously set up that it gives the entire film an entire bonus point for goodwill).

Cusack doesn't have to stretch himself here, nor does he, but this is in line with many of his other roles from the decade, which means that fans of his work from this era should enjoy themselves. Demi Moore is very easy to like, playing a travelling musician named Cassandra, and I think this film does more to show her screen presence than anything in the fairly dire St. Elmo's Fire, and both Joel Murray and Bobcat Goldthwait are good fun for anyone who appreciates that they are very much an acquired taste. Curtis Armstrong is another member of the gang, and I always enjoy him onscreen, and there are enjoyable, but brief, turns from Taylor Negron, Rich Hall, Jeremy Piven, and William Hickey. Mulhern is a suitably douchebro baddie, Mark Metcalf and Joe Flaherty play two different, but somehow equally problematic, fathers, and Kimberly Foster creates some extra tension as the other female in the midst of all of the hormonal men.

Not the best of the teen comedies from this decade, and you could argue that it doesn't really count anyway (the main characters all feel just a bit older, although none the wiser, compared to those in the big movies you would think of in that sub-genre), but this has plenty of little chuckles in between the few big laughs. Holland is a hell of a talent, wonderfully surreal and anarchic with his approach to familiar material, and I hope he comes along one day with another film that recaptures the energy and wit of both this and Better Off Dead.... That's unlikely, but I'll keep my fingers crossed anyway.

7/10

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