Parents' Guide to Brats

Gen-X, this movie's for you. Brats is a walk down memory lane, populated by the now 50- and 60-something actors who starred in a body of youth-oriented movies in the 1980s that changed the trajectory of Hollywood. In fact, that might be the most interesting insight of this film, for those who hadn't previously given consideration to the idea that movies like Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire, among many others of the era, were responsible for showing Hollywood the size and value of the teen market. McCarthy does talk about other broader social implications of the "Brat Pack" with a range of interesting sources, but his real motivation is much more personal. This is really his walk down memory lane.

Seemingly crushed by the weight of the 1985 "Brat Pack" label, McCarthy uses the film to work through his own feelings about the past. There's a 12-step feeling to this process, with the cameras following him closely, listening to his personal musings as he travels between visits as well as to his interviews. His old peers, most of whom he hasn't seen in 30 years, agree that the label undermined their professional profiles, though none seem to have been as affected as McCarthy. (Curiously, if you read the original article, available online, McCarthy is barely mentioned.) As a director here, his one-track focus on the past means he misses an opportunity to delve more into what the lives of these icons are like in the present. What has the Breakfast Club been doing for the last 30 years? The interviews and outtakes offer glimpses, but this film's audience of Gen X peers would have eaten up more.