Some Kind of Wonderful
Mary Stuart Masterson radiates as third wheel in muddled teen romance
The late writer/ director/ producer John Hughes was born February 18, 1950 in Lansing, Michigan. He’d be celebrating his 75th birthday this month. Video Days kicks off its inaugural month with a retrospective of ten of the filmmaker’s pictures.
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL (1987) is soldered together from so many spare parts that it’s almost predictable it functions no better than the jalopy–a 1960 Morris Mini Minor–that stalls on its teenage characters regularly. As viewers, we’re stranded waiting to bum a ride to a better movie.
John Hughes had written a comedy about a high school misfit’s efforts to woo his dream girl with the date of the century. Titled Some Kind of Wonderful, the script was loaded with broad laughs. In post-production on two films–Pretty In Pink (1986), which trailer cutter and music video director Howard Deutch made his feature film debut directing while Hughes was shooting Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) at almost the same time–Hughes had so many surplus scripts to choose from he offered Some Kind of Wonderful to Deutch to direct as his next picture. Deutch thought the lead would be perfect for Michael J. Fox, star of a summer blockbuster so phenomenally successful it was still in theaters: Back to the Future (1985). Fox passed, declining to return to high school again. Deutch proposed Molly Ringwald or Lea Thompson for the role of the dream girl. They both declined, Thompson noting that the more interesting part was the androgynous percussionist who was the misfit’s best friend. Deutch took the rejections as a sign that the movie wasn’t a good idea and took himself out of the running to direct it, much to the displeasure of Hughes.
Paramount Pictures–where Hughes had a two-year, first look deal–proposed Martha Coolidge, director of Valley Girl (1983) and Real Genius (1985), as a replacement. Studio president Dawn Steel had lobbied for a female director for the female-led Pretty In Pink, which as a variation on Valley Girl, Coolidge would’ve been ideal for. Her sensibility leaned drama first, comedy second, gags further down the list. This suited Hughes because that had been his recipe for Pretty In Pink. He rewrote Some Kind of Wonderful along similar lines, swapping the genders of the love triangle to culminate with the romantic lead getting together with their misfit friend in the end. Coolidge cast Eric Stoltz, Kim Delaney and Mary Stuart Masterson as the artistic misfit, his dream girl and his tomboy pal, with Kyle Maclachlan joining them as the richie the misfit is in conflict with. Stoltz questioned the middle class resentment Hughes had loaded his character with, offering that a rebel wouldn’t give a damn what the haves had that he didn’t, but needing the work after being fired as Marty McFly six weeks into production of Back to the Future, Stoltz needed the role.
Four days before shooting was scheduled to begin, Hughes reconciled with Howard Deutch, his preferred director from the start, and had a change of heart on nearly all the main cast. Coolidge was paid her full salary by Paramount and let go, while Delaney and Maclachlan were also fired. Hughes wanted to replace Stoltz as well, but the studio insisted he keep his job this time. With Lea Thompson and Craig Sheffer replacing Delaney and Maclachlan, Some Kind of Wonderful commenced filming in August 1986 in the Los Angeles area. It was the first John Hughes production to make no secret of taking place in L.A. in addition to being filmed there. Keith and Watts’s houses were shot in the industrial neighborhood of Wilmington, while San Pedro High School in neighboring San Pedro was used for the school scenes. The Stoltz character’s perfect date was unmistakably Los Angeles, with L’Ermitage restaurant in West Hollywood, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Hollywood Bowl being stops. The climactic party in the “richie” neighborhood was shot in Hancock Park, the neighborhood the richies of Pretty In Pink resided.
Opening in February 1987 on 1,082 screens in the U.S., Some Kind of Wonderful drew some positive critical notices. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert split, Siskel offering that Mary Stuart Masterson was so charismatic that Stoltz’s character was uncredible for not being interested in her. Ebert credited the picture for its depiction of teenagers making thoughtful and responsible decisions. Opening head-to-head with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, the sensitive drama was overrun commercially, spending four weeks among the top ten films in the country, half the time Pretty In Pink spent selling tickets. Perhaps because it isn’t set in the environment of his previous films, the movie is often skipped when retrospectives of Hughes’ work are being drawn up, even the high school films he wrote. Of the different versions of Some Kind of Wonderful that were nearly made, the film marries a generic working class look to a teen picture about self-identity. Mary Stuart Masterson is its greatest asset, playing a character who’d identify as gender non-conforming today, without making this a message. Hughes was way ahead of the curve addressing gender identity among teenagers, at least indirectly.
Unfortunately, the blossoming percussionist played so memorably by Masterson isn’t the focus of the film. Instead, two of the blandest characters of this or any high school are. Stoltz plays a clean cut guy, his character bullied for no other reason than previous drafts of the script required it. Thompson’s character lacks mettle, going with the flow. Both actors, who’d spent four or five years playing teenagers, are too old to credibly sell young listlessness, but even if they looked younger, come across as unjustifiably dull. John Ashton plays Stoltz’s blue collar father and he too lacks conviction, parenting with neither a heavy hand, or with empathy toward his son. Even Hughes’ finesse for New Wave music eludes him, with a flat soundtrack notable only for “Catch My Fall” by Billy Idol. Catch My Fall would’ve been a better title, virtually the same number of letters as Pretty In Pink and relevant to the retooled film. Hughes floods the engine on a genre he’d revitalized, but along with Deutch, run out of fresh ideas for.
Video rental category: Drama
Special interest: School Days