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Smooth Talk (1985)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 10/25

SmoothTalk
10/25: Smooth Talk is an easy target to have high expectations, but it's not going to happen.

There's plenty of character buildup for Laura Dern as Connie which takes a while. When it's almost out of time, Treat Williams finally shows up to do his "worst" and thus slows the film down a great deal. They go out for a ride and probably have sex on the field. She returns physically unharmed. The end.

Now, this is where a good director is needed. Joyce Chopra ain't it. I thought I would be given a semi-Blue Velvet treatment, but it became "oh." Unsurprisingly, Lauren Dern did the aforementioned film next, and it performed extremely well by shocking viewers. As for Arnold Friend, after seeing the numbers on his car, I was like, "What's that...33 arrests, 19 convictions, and 17 stints in jail so far?" *scoff* What a flake.

I know somebody personally who's like Connie. Let's call her Dora. She even has the same type of relationship with her mother as evidenced through Mary Kay Place, yet the family is stable and together. Her main preoccupation is boys, boys, boys...very superficial, shallow stuff, but she thinks one of them is going to unlock the mysteries of the universe and solve everything.

Around the house, I've never seen Dora cook, wash dishes or clothes, clean anything up, or take out the trash. My problem with Connie is she should've been in her early 20's, not a high school sophomore. Dora is currently 28, single, and attractive. Yep, she has been stuck in this state for so long and was even in a relationship with an Arnold Friend for years. That turned out to be a total mistake despite everybody telling her to break up with him and move on right from the beginning. The reason why Dora is like this is her mother who's a big-time enabler.

All in all, Smooth Talk is the PG version of Blue Velvet.