Simply A Masterpiece

Please don't spend money on this.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Johnny Be Good: Directed by Bud Smith and written by Steve Zacharias, Jeff Buhai and David Obst.Tomatometer rating is 0%. That's right folks this movie has absolutely no positive reviews out of 11. I didn't hate this movie. This reminded me a lot of the New Guy in the sense that it reeks of the era in which it was made. It has such an 80s feel that it can be made no other time. This is an over the top comedy where every movement and line reading is cartoonishly inflated to grand proportions. It has non stop musical moments. It has montages out of the wazoo. It is taking the serious allegations of college trying lure high school athletes to certain colleges with deals meant to cater to their baser instincts and making it seem outlandish. It's not. It is something that happens and it's okay to lampoon it. This movie though just gave me a headache. It was a barrage of music and terrible unfunny comedy. The performances were right on the edge. I liked Anthony Michael Hall and Paul Gleason but Robert Downey Jr was insufferable in this film. He was wild and crazy for every single thing he did and it became too much very quickly. Thankfully though the movie was very short. It clocks in at 82 minutes. I wanted to like this movie. I really did but something felt off about the entire film from the very beginning. Nothing could be done to shake no matter how many lavish over the top mockery of Texas football there was. I give this movie a D.

People are taking this movie way too seriously. This is a late 80s comedy, it's supposed to make you laugh I don't know why the people who have written reviews about this view this movie as if it was supposed to be a serious film with a heartwarming meaning behind it. It's like a "back to school" (and you'll find Robert Downey Juniors role pretty much like his role as "Max" in this film) users who wrote this long, drawn out, serious review of this film don't get these kind of films obviously. Come on people this is like a slapstick comedy and not meant to be taken seriously at all it's kind of like "The Breakfast Club" meets "Varsity Blues" and they added a little "Not Another Teen Movie" to it.. It's not that bad a movie.. That's all I can say. Enjoy

Uma Thurman, in her movie debut at the age of 17 or 18, is as gangly and succulent as ever, and maybe more so. She's awfully easy on the eyes. Too bad there isn't more of her.That's about it, as far as I'm concerned. I can imagine others getting more out of this noisy and ridiculous flick about a high-school football hero being courted by various colleges who offer him money, bribes, margaritas, and of course sexy women.I can imagine most of those others being adolescents because the film illustrates and endorses all the adolescent virtues. That wouldn't in itself be the kiss of death. Some very amusing movies have been made about adolescence.But -- well, let me give two examples of humor in this movie. You're supposed to laugh at both of them.The story opens with a football game. One of the cheer leaders on our side has removed her pants. The two rival teams line up. The quarterback on our team shouts, "Hey, that cheerleader has no pants on!" The rival team glances over and our side bursts through their line.Example number two. The happy family of the hero is seated around the family dinner table and chatting away. Even the little daughter with the missing front teeth asks impudent questions. The scene closes with the family members and the guest throwing pieces of food at each other and laughing.If you find this funny, if you like loud electronic guitars and pounding percussion, if you find raunchy comments about genitals amusing in themselves, you will enjoy this movie.I don't know how it ended because I couldn't watch it all the way through, but I imagine that Johnny the football hero gives up money, celebrity, beer, and girls, joins a monastery and becomes a contemplative monk.

Anthony Michael Hall who bears an astonishing resemblance to a late friend of mine plays All American quarterback Johnny Walker who every college team in America is after. The fact that Hall is not exactly built like a football player at this stage of his career doesn't prevent one from enjoying this Brat Pack film which does actually have some serious things to say about college athletic recruiting.Hall plays a rather likable young kid who has the world by the short hairs of the scrotum with every college bidding for his services. Some of them go to some rather extravagant lengths as a school in Texas and California wine and dine him with just about everything any 18 year old could want in this world.Brat Pack films have a special place in the career of actor Paul Gleason who made a career of playing authority figures that Brat Pack kids would flout with impunity. No exception here in Johnny Be Good. Gleason plays Hall's high school coach and he's also in on the payola if there's any to be had. Gleason's one saving grace is that he has a lovely daughter Jennifer Tilly who is really in love with Hall. She has to get the sincerity from her mother's side.And there's a special part in her for Uma Thurman, wife of the head of Texas boosters who picks out a special boy in every class for her favorite. Talk about a cougar stalking prey.Even Howard Cossell makes an appearance here, lending some sports authenticity to the film. Cossell playing himself as no one else ever could is doing some investigative journalism into the whole recruiting mania surrounding Hall.Johnny Be Good is a likable Brat Pack comedy, as likable as its star. And this film is dedicated to Steven 'Kip' Loney who looked and sounded just like Anthony Michael Hall and who unfortunately died way too young. Kip this one's for you.