Word: scripting
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...leftover from another teen comedy, John Cusack, as Lane Meyer, seems uniquely inappropriate after his boisterous role in The Sure Thing to play someone on the down side of teen life. In another dimension, where teen comedies all have good script writers, the pairing of Cusack and Armstrong might have been relatively magical, something like proto-Belushi meets proto-Murray. Instead, they are confined to gags that only a teen messiah could save, and only a child could enjoy. Hopefully, Cusack's role in the Disney flick The Journey of Natty Gann turns out better...
...highlight of the film is the characters of the two brothers. Tesich is always makes up for what he misses in plot with character and dialogue. And Kevin Costner and David Grant bring Tesich's script to life in a realistic and talented manner. One can actually believe, or at least hope, that if someone close were dying, one would act like these brothers...
...weakness in Tesich's films is his portrayal of women. They have no more character than the bicycle spokes, serving archetypical and sexual purposes without assuming any form themselves. The women in this film, such a Rae Dae Chong as Costner's lover, are trapped in Tesich's unliberated script...
Given that there is much to be criticized in American Flyers, it is one of the few films this year, besides Kiss of the Spider Woman, in which there are signs of intelligent life in the script. A visit to this film is a necessary, if not completely ecstatic, experience...
...script is not Close's only problem here. She is also grossly miscast. She is by far too wholesome and maternal looking to be convincingly sexy as Maxie. In The Natural, she was an angel; in Garp, she was immaculately conceived. Thus, when Close slinks around a piano cooing "Bye Bye Blackbird," it's kind of disturbing, like watching your mother do a striptease...