Girls Just Want to Have Fun - PG
Common Sense Note
Parents should know that this movie is mostly PG -- there's only a little kissing and no drinking, swearing, or drug use. But there's considerable -- and benign -- teenage rebellion. Janey moves to a new school, meets a wild girl, and starts ditching class and sneaking out of her house to meet a boy. She doesn't do anything dangerous, but she does learn to be insubordinate to her parents. There are also gratuitous shots of girls sitting around their bedrooms in their underwear.
Families can talk about appropriate ways to blow off steam as well as tensions between teens and parents. What are the things kids want to do that parents won't let them? Are they dangerous? Do you think Janey's dad's rules are too strict? How do you deal with rules you don't like?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Heather Boerner
Take a big helping of Hairspray (minus the political consciousness and the divine Ricki Lake) and sprinkle it with a candy-covered version of My So-Called Life and what you have is the totally tubular '80s teen dance movie GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN.
Complete with bad fashions (neon fingerless gloves, anyone?), bad hair, and even worse dancing, Girls Just Want to Have Fun features some of today's most popular actors doing some of the cheesiest things you've ever seen. See a pre-Sex and the City Sarah Jessica Parker as Janey, the Catholic school girl Army brat who dreams of dancing on Dance TV. Watch her doing back flips and practicing dance lifts a la Dirty Dancing. Witness the august and Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt hamming it up as Lynn, the wild-child best friend in some of the most absurd -- but actually worn -- '80s ensembles and big, ratted-out hair. It's Totally Awesome without the irony. And if you love the '80s, it is totally awesome.
In Girls…, Janey starts school in Chicago, home of her favorite dance show Dance TV (hosted by Richard Blade, whom some '80s music lovers may recall as a DJ on an L.A. radio station). When the station announces it's holding a contest to choose two new dancers for the show, Lynn encourages Janey to try out. She has to lie to her drill sergeant dad and sneak out of the house, but when she makes it to the finals, will her dream come true? Will the evil rich-girl Natalie (Holly Gagnier) fix the contest to take the final spot? Will Jeff (Lee Montgomery) fall in love with her?
Forget the plot, though. Just concentrate on the Solid Gold-quality dance numbers and the outrageous fashion. Forget, if you can, that Helen Hunt is way too mature-seeming to pull off the role of Lynn (where's AJ Langer when you need her?) and just look for the cameo by a preteen Shannen Doherty and the New Wave girls in Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" video. And then sit back and giggle. It's a good, cheesy time.
People who enjoy this film may also like Hairspray, Save the Last Dance, My So-Called Life or the punk rock-lite delight Rock and Roll High School.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentNatalie is shown lounging around her room in lingerie. Janey hangs out in her bedroom in underwear and a tank top. There's some innocent but sexy dancing. Drew cons a girl into letting him grab her breasts. Janey and Jeff kiss. |
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ViolenceTeens break through a glass window and comically throw JP Sands into a cake. He isn't injured. |
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LanguageOnly if you count "butthead." |
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Social BehaviorA lot of teen mischief, including teens ditching class, lying to their parents, sneaking out of the house to meet boys, and crashing parties. Drew sells term papers to other students and is always out to make a buck. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoWine is served at a party, but no teens drink it and no one gets drunk. |
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