102 min | PG-13 | May 8, 2020 | Orion Classics
A Valley girl falls for a Hollywood punk in the summer of 1983, and the soundtrack does the courting. Rachel Lee Goldenberg turns Martha Coolidge’s cult original into a glossy jukebox musical. It remembers every song and forgets why the romance mattered.
Julie Richman lives in the San Fernando Valley in 1983. She shops the mall, follows her friends, and dates a boy who treats her as an accessory. Then she meets Randy, a Hollywood punk from the other side of the canyon, and the movie asks whether she will choose the safe boy or the dangerous one. Rachel Lee Goldenberg remakes Martha Coolidge’s 1983 film and frames the story as a jukebox musical built on new-wave hits. The film is really about nostalgia for a decade and a sound, and it wants you to feel that nostalgia more than it wants you to feel the romance.
Jessica Rothe plays Julie with full commitment and a voice that carries the musical numbers. She sells the longing even when the script gives her little to long for. Josh Whitehouse plays Randy as a soft rebel with none of the menace the role needs. The chemistry between them stays polite. Logan Paul plays Mickey, the boyfriend Julie should leave, and reduces the character to a smug pose. Mae Whitman plays Jack, the older friend who narrates the frame story, and brings more lived-in warmth in a few scenes than the leads manage across the film.
Goldenberg directs from a screenplay by Amy Talkington that sands every rough edge off the original. The film stages its songs as bright ensemble set pieces, and the production design fills the mall and the diner with saturated period color. The choreography is clean and the costumes pop. The sound mix favors polished studio vocals over any sense of live performance, which drains the punk-club scenes of the grit they need. The new-wave catalog does the emotional work that the dialogue cannot.
The result is a cover version. It hits the notes and looks the part and never finds a reason to exist beyond affection for what came before. Talkington’s script keeps the conflict toothless, so the choice between two boys never feels like a choice. Rothe deserves a sharper vehicle for what she can do. The film coasts on a soundtrack and a smile and leaves the rest blank.