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Created Jun 14, 2013 07:51PM PST • Edited Jun 14, 2013 07:55PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   OK 2.5

   Bumbled into this one and decided to watch it for a retrospective evaluation of young Sean Penn and Nick Cage, and to remind myself again why a nice brunette who finds her way to the dinner table once in a while is still the best thing to bumble into. The experience morphed into a look-back from 2013 to 1984 to 1942, or the equivalent of Kevin Costner’s daughter seeing her grand dad in his prime as a catcher in Field of Dreams, sorta. Anyways, as Roger Ebert always said there is magic in movies that you can only experience when you watch them. So if your plans change on you abruptly leaving you with this movie and a bag of popcorn, then you could do worse.

4. Acting

   OK 2.5

   I am sure I will never be a fan of Sean Penn, and seeing him in his youth did not change that. Nothing in this movie gave any clue of his eventual rise in Hollywood. The scene where he races a dog to cut a corner is neat, and when he stands along the edge of the roller skating rink is iconic but these dots do not connect. But his loss of composure wreaks of effort to do so and a potentially interesting scene in the bakery is lost due to poor directing.

5. Male Stars OK 2.5

   See above for S Penn

6. Female Stars OK 2.5

   Elizabeth McGovern is a brunette on the loose in the 1940’s. And I can not tell if it is the script or the performance that lets me down. Have we traveled to far from the innocence to ever appreciate the fuss over whether or not to let a good guy buy a girl a milkshake?

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

   Nick Cage is 20 in this movie, and in his supporting role you can see his effort to elevate.

10. Film

    Barely OK 2.0

    Probably what is disappointing the most. Filmed in 1984 it had all the feel of a early 1970’s production of the Little Rascals filmed for the first time in color. The satisfaction meter was essentially a flat-lined EKG with the Sean Penn opening scene at the rink, and the pin-setting scenes.

11. Direction Barely OK 2.0

12. Play Barely OK 2.0

13. Music Barely OK 2.0

14. Visuals Barely OK 2.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.5

    Edge is a surprise considering it was filmed in the Reagan era and set in the WW II era to depict the topic of abortion.

17. Sex Innocent 1.5

18. Violence Gentle 1.5

19. Rudeness Polite 1.5

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    the needle stays all the way to the left on this one, and they must considering the era…

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0