Perfect cast and a good story

Excellent adaptation.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Being a teenager in the 80s and growing up in the Los Angeles area myself, this movie appealed to me because of the obvious relate-ability to it. Adrock sure did a stupendous job, especially being that it was his debut in a film. We always think of him as the crazy, funny and party-animal beastie boy, but here he was a dramatic, lost and frustrated protagonist looking to find his way amongst a myriad of issues. This film depicts the consequences of Reaganomics and how the 80s culture-especially amongst white Americans-worshiped greed and money. In this quest to have all the better things in life-which often was because of both the father and mother having careers-the kids become lost and bored and turned to things like drugs, sex, booze, partying non-stop, recklessness, gangs etc. It is interesting how a motif is the Latino gang lifestyle (his nickname was "chino") and how many young white males succumbed to that, especially in Southern California, in their quest to want to feel apart of something and seem important. Little did they know, but the filmmakers foreshadowed a major theme of the 1990s by doing this. The plot was mediocre, but it was the superb acting by Sutherland and Horovitz, and their chemistry along with how the film captured the end result of what happens when greed is god (this film was made in 89) and a seque into the the problems that these lost kids continued on with in the 90s. By that token, it is now a cult classic. I hear many people complain about the ending; I do not think the ending was too bad. Sure, it seems sugarcoated, but the protagonist found himself through the feeling he was able to care for someone else--the Donald Sutherland character. Because of this, he found his way back home.

Funny how I got to see this movie. I saw in the news currently that Amy Locane is in court regarding a DUI death in 2010, so I looked up her movies and found this one on Netflix streaming movies. It is of teenage angst in Southern California, kids wanting to be tough and members of two-bit gangs.Adam Horovitz (who went on to an extensive musical career since this movie) was 17-ish Tim 'Chino' Doolan. He gets in trouble, along with a teen girl, and this particular episode ends with the girl's family's car in the pool. They both end up in a juvenile facility. The girl is Amy Locane, really still in her teens, as Cheryl Anderson. This was her first movie role.Donald Sutherland is one of the 'shrinks', Dr. Charles Loftis, and the only one who really cares about the kids and their potential rehabilitation. He and Chino end up in a love-hate relationship, where he keeps giving Chino chances and Chino fails to keep his word.Don Bloomfield is the bad half-brother, Andy 'Natas' Doolan, who keeps getting Chino into trouble. Their rivals are the Latino population, they call themselves D.A.B. (dead at birth) Kids, and Loftis notes that it is 'B-A-D' spelled backwards.It is a movie of teen angst and possible redemption. It kept my interest, and it was nice to see Amy Locane in her first movie role.

All you really need to know about this movie is that its the first time I ever saw Michael Bolton in a movie. No, not the singer, but the character from Office Space. He plays a minor role as a wise ass in rehab named Carlo. He has some really funny lines and is a good example of the different kind of rebellious teens the 80's produced. You can see how we all became underachievers and slackers by watching this movie. It has a pretty good message about joint income families producing lazy, drug addicted, sex crazed, hyper active, non attentive kids. The movie isnt that great, but the insite into what was going on in the wake of Reaganomics is really important. Its a good capstone for movies like repo man, rad, thrashin, less than zero, and so on. Not that theres much in common here, but the genre is the same. This movie is pretty much an expanded after school special. But the gang and club scenes are great. Theres some decent dialogue and some 80's music. Its worth renting if your from this era, most younger wont get it, most older wont understand. 7 of 10*'s

I only watched this movie because Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys was in this movie. What I found is a very realistic (until the end) movie about suburban teenage angst. Horovitz plays the lead, who ends up getting institutionalized because his parents are too busy. Horovitz surprised me by his acting skills as his anger was shown strongly. He is in need of fitting in, and that's where his step-brother comes in and influences him to get out of the institution and wreak havoc with him. His love interest is institutionalized too, but when she is free, she is stuck at home drugged out, with her mom not caring for her. Donald Sutherland plays the institution's only caring person. He says "Yeah, they care. They care for a couple hours because they're paid to care." That's another conflict in this movie is his caring for his patients, but it strains his relationship with his real family. This movie is very strong, and shows the pain of being a rich teen in suburban L.A. with no support of the family. I just feel the ending was a cheap cop out to a very good movie.