Take Me Home Tonight

Best. Night. Ever.

People always say that the 80's had the best music, and I tend to agree. This movie definitely makes a strong argument for that very fact. The movie isn't about the music, of course, but it features some very good tunes from the 80's.

It's hard to believe that this movie has been out for over a year (released in March of 2011) already. Which makes it even harder to believe that it is set in 1988 (24 years ago, for those who don't want to do the math). Now, I wasn't around in '88 (was born in '90), but I think this movie captured the era perfectly.

Take Me Home Tonight centers around 4 people: twin siblings Matt and Wendy, Matt's best friend Barry and Matt's high school crush Tori.

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║    SPOILER ALERT!!    ║

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Matt always wanted to go out with Tori, but never had an "in" to ask her out. Or so he always says. When a (not-so) chance encounter with Tori ends up with him going to the same party as her, he thinks he may have his chance. All he needs to do is impress her with his job at Goldman Sacs, which he really doesn't have.

On the way to the party, Barry, who has been drinking (heavily, I might add) from getting fired from his car salesman job, decides to steal a car from the dealership that he worked at. While this is meant to add to the illusion that Matt works at GS, it ends up being more of a bad thing, what with the cocaine in the glove box and all. The previously mentioned cocaine ends up taking Barry on his own crazy night, although I won't go into that as I don't want to give too much of the plot away. I will, however, leave this picture at the right as a hint as to what his night entails.

After getting to (finally) sleep with Tori, Matt decides to be honest and tell her that he works at Suncoast Video (I actually remember the one that was at the mall near where I currently live). As you might have guessed, Tori became rather upset that Matt lied and storms off. This results in Matt doing something crazy and rather dangerous, which actually gets her to come back and he ends up with her number.

The movie ends with Matt, Wendy and Barry going to get breakfast.

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TMHT received pretty mixed reviews, ranging from a good 3/4 star rating from Colin Covert at the Minneapolis Star Tribune (my hometown!) to a rather rotten 29% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I can definitely see how people could say it wasn't that great, especially considering that it only made 36.4% of its $19m budget in the box office. However, I can also see the other side of the argument. Yes, it wasn't as funny as it could have been, but then, how often is real life hilarious all the time?

My final decision- 7.5 stars

After much consideration, I decided to give Take Me Home Tonight a 7.5 star rating. While I think it was a good movie indicative of life as a college grad in L.A. in the late '80s (completely speculative as I am neither a college grad, nor was I alive in the late '80s), I also feel that if could have been a bit funnier. Regardless, it makes for a good movie to just have fun watching with friends, so check it out, and let us know whether or not you liked it.

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