Burn Baby Burn

Somehow, in my mind, I had conflated St. Elmo's Fire with Chariots of Fire. Uninterested in a movie about running, I never bothered to see St. Elmo's. Then I realized that all these years I'd been thinking of the wrong film and St. Elmo's was actually about seven friends and their shifting friendships post-graduation. If there's a movie genre that qualifies as a favorite of mine, this would probably be it. Right out of the gate I was ready to be sucked in. I mean, the soundtrack is amazing! The opening theme with the damn violins, pianos, and saxophones. Yowza.

I'm reading that this was the beginning of the Brat Pack, or at least when the term was coined. If this was the beginning, then I need to watch a few more of their movies because I like the idea of the same actors and actresses working together over and over again, even rehashing similar characters and plots. That's pretty much analogous to how a real life group of friends works anyway.

Kirby: I always thought we'd be friends forever.
Kevin: Yeah, well forever got a lot shorter all of a sudden.

What I liked about St. Elmo's -- after I got past the slightly dated aspects, some grimace worthy cheesiness, and the whiny personalities -- was that my expectations were always upended. Watching the movie more than twenty five years after it came out, I figured it would be predictable and formulaic. Instead, there weren't really happy endings to be found anywhere, and all the declarations of love were just that, declarations. Sometimes you can just really love somebody but realize it shouldn't work out, or won't work out. St. Elmo's is the rare romantic comedy that reflects that. I also really liked how this group of friends were in and out of each other's lives but ultimately firmly connected despite it all -- even against their will.

Other high points: Andie Macdowell in her infinite beauty. Rob Lowe's ridiculous George Michael earring. My only familiarity with Lowe was on Brothers and Sisters and now I understand what all the fuss was about. One nitpick: I wish Molly Ringwald had been cast instead of Mare Winningham. Can't we CGI Ringwald in there for the next edition?

Billy: Jules, y'know, honey... this isn't real. You know what it is? It's St. Elmo's Fire. Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere. Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them... there was no fire. There wasn't even a St. Elmo. They made it up. They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. We're all going through this. It's our time at the edge.

Roger Ebert said About Last Night was the movie that St. Elmos' should have been, so I'm Netflixing it right away. Oh and then About Last Night happens to be on Encore right now as I'm writing this. Surely a sign.