SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

rogerbannister-23374 At the time it was ground-breaking, and even though now it's not as impressive, the film, in it's time is still worthy of a solid 8 stars. Don't judge this film by today's standards, accept it for it's context.

Desertman84 St. Elmo's Fire is a coming-of-age film that features the group known as "The Brat Pack" namely Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Mare Winningham.The story centers on a group of friends who just graduated from Georgetown University and their adjustment to post- university lives and the responsibilities that they are about to face soon when they get their first full-time employment after college.The characters involved are: Alex and Leslie who live together in a precarious relationship; Kevin looks bored writing obituaries for the newspaper; rich girl Wendy shares a doomed relationship with Billy; law student Kirby tries to pursue Leslie, an older flame from college; and party-girl Jules is promiscuous,snorts coke and drinks too much.While it may be a very popular film back in the 80's due to its prominence as a Brat Pack film genre,it was basically a melodrama that contains all style and no substance whatsover.It mainly relies on the presence of the group and nothing more.It was just a film made to assemble a group of beautiful people by 80's standards and make a film out of the said collection.

Bill Slocum Back when I first saw this film in a cinema in 1985, I hated it for being so callow and smug. I can't say I feel that differently about its defects, but I don't hate "St. Elmo's Fire" anymore. It kind of captures the charm of the period even if it grasps annoyingly at times for laughs and pathos. Seven young people just graduated from Georgetown University find themselves up against various life challenges revolving around love. Political aide Alec (Judd Nelson) wants to marry his live-in girlfriend Leslie (Ally Sheedy), but she's not sure. Journalist Kevin (Andrew McCarthy) hides his secret love, while waiter Kirby (Emilio Estevez) and social worker Wendy (Mare Winningham) are pathetically unable to conceal theirs. Billy (Rob Lowe) is married with a baby but can't stay faithful, while Jules (Demi Moore) dances as fast as she can with her office affairs and cocaine habit."It's our time on the edge," is how Billy puts it, but that edge seldom merits our interest. Unfortunately, director-writer Joel Schumacher's indulgent handling of his characters' various angsts creates a gulf for viewers like me. He likes them too much, I think, for them to be successful comic-tragic figures.Too many groaner lines in the script, too, the kind that seem crafted for trailer use rather than real human dialogue: "Wasted love! God, I just wish I could get it back!" "I'm obsessed, thank you very much!" "Let's rock!" "You break my heart. Then again, you break everyone's heart!" Catch-phrase overuse really gets out of hand.I won't say "St. Elmo's Fire" is so bad it's good, but it's certainly distinctive in a way that I think has improved it over the years. Much of it is in the way of camp value. But it also captures a period in time, and a group of young actors, at a point when pop culture was coming together around them. They became known as the Brat Pack, which made them seem even more insufferably popular than they already were. The "Brat Pack" moniker was something they didn't accept, and Schumacher whines about it on his DVD commentary, but it made them what they were and in this film anyway, they seem to live up to that image, with their toilet dunking and ritual chants.Another thing Schumacher mentions on his commentary is the dinging he got for the film's elitist tone. He makes the point that the critics mistook "content for intent," but it's hard to miss the snooty ways the main characters look down on the poor unfortunates around them who aren't as cool as they are, whether it be a sad naked guy wandering a hospital corridor, a gay designer, or Wendy's schlubby suitor."Welfare recipients are getting better looking," says Billy, which would be wrong in anyone's mouth but particularly so from the sculpted lips of Rob Lowe. It's the kind of line that screams for a comeuppance that never really comes.What works for the film is mainly visual. The wet streets, pastel shirts, neon ties, and Billy Idol wall mural all scream 1980s, but in a better way than they did then. The David Foster score still holds up, as do the two hit songs from the soundtrack. And the actors do work well together, playing against each other naturally and with considerable charm, even if Nelson does fume and McCarthy rub his eyes too much.It's a time capsule film, one that deserves to be in its time capsule most of the time. But it has moments of real entertainment, perhaps nostalgia, perhaps something deeper, a sense of life's passage experienced in a kind of contented bubble you know is about to pop.

Tweekums This is the story of seven friends; they were inseparable at college but will they be able to stay friends now they have graduated? In the opening scene we see that not all of them are keen to grow up; Billy has crashed a car while drunk injuring Wendy and while the group are checking up on her Kirby sees the girl he once went on one date with and becomes obsessed with her. The rest of the group have their problems too; Jules has a cocaine habit, Alec's and Leslie's 'perfect' relationship is about to fall apart and everybody thinks Kevin is gay. Over the course of the film we get to know the characters as their relationships begin to change and they come to terms with the fact that nothing lasts forever.'St. Elmo's Fire' is the quintessential Brat Pack movie; a young good looking cast of characters coming to terms with their different lives. The cast does a fine job making the story believable despite its slight resemblance to a soap opera with the various relationships and wondering who will end up with whom. Surprisingly the characters, with the exception of Wendy and possibly Leslie, all behave in a way that could be seen as cruel to others; this may be realistic but is unusual for characters we are meant to be sympathetic to. It is definitely an 'eighties' film; in style, in dress sense and in the music but it doesn't feel dated. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to any fans of the various Brat Pack members who appear in it or those who like eighties films in general.