Career Opportunities (1991)

***SPOILERS*** The very sight of the drop dead gorgeous and ultra sexy 20 year old Jennefer Connelly, as spoiled little rich girl Josie McClellan, riding and rolling on a electronic pony was more then worth the price of admission then the duration of the entire movie. Josie gets herself locked up in the Target's ladies dressing room trying to shoplift a $20.00 pair of ladies underpants even though she had as much as $52,000.00 of cash on her to pay for it and ends up having the run of the place. That's until two crooks Nester & Gil, Demont & Kieran Mulroney who are obviously brothers, show up-after hiding and smoking pot in the store men's room- to rip the place off.The good for nothing $4.40 cent an hour night clean-up boy Jim Dodge, Frank Whaley, on his first day or night on the job ends up getting stuck-lucky guy-with Josie for the entire night that's a lot more then he ever bargained for. And in the end goes off with her to sunny California to start a new life as well as career opportunity in the up and coming multi-billion dollar industry of Silicon Valley. The fact that Josie comes from the richest family in the state of Georgia is nothing compared in what she got from hooking up with the cute clean-up boy Frank who showed her just what a good time, in running for her life and safety from the two Mulroney brothers as well as the local police, rally is.Jenniffer Connelly who just was seen in the movie "The Racketeer" who soon rocketed to the top as the hottest actress in Hollywood in this so-so movie about America's youth. As for actor Frank Whaley with the exception of playing accused but not proved JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in movies like "JFK" & "Fatal Deception Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald" he never had a part in a film as good or satisfying with a co-star as Connelly as the lowly Target night time clean-up boy Jim Dodge in "Career Opportunities".

Frank Whaley and a few other overlooked ones the Hughes-package (aka Brat Pack) land roles here with emerging stars the Mulroney Bros. The film has the classic Hughes devices of the solitary character posed before a background of merchandise or amusing themselves with objects that are actually merchandise of functional objects. Whatever happened to Leggs and dancing in the CD aisles? The music is reflective of the transitioning period of the late 1980's and early 1990's where hard rock, "synth pop" and alternative rock were duking it out on the charts. If you're lost on the placement of the story--in typical Hughes (R.I.P.) Midwest territories, or the aesthetics, the subtle and smooth-flowing moral lessons are easily missed (am I the only one who sees similar casting among the many leading young women in the Hughes films--Moore, Connelly, Sara?). Generally, Hughes films are about revealing the common ties among individuals who live in distinctly different social and economic strata where conflict resolves into a solidarity.I find it interesting that I watched this AFTER watching a modern "living as a boy, who is old enough to live like a man" film titled, "Failure To Launch," an attempt to close the chapter on the pandemic of young "adults" returning to the nest, while this film seemed to signal the start of the pandemic. A few unique cases here or there, then by the mid-1990's, we saw the 30-year old "men" trailing behind their mothers to grocery stores or other chores. My other perspective on the content of this film.

I have always been a big Jennifer Connelly fan, starting with "The Rocketeer". This lightweight romantic comedy was made between that movie, and "The Hot Spot" where young Jennifer showed off several of her own hot spots. She is still lovely at 40+ but was just delicious-looking at around 20, not so thin and a somewhat rounder face.Frank Whaley is Jim Dodge , a janitor at Target (filmed in a Target store in Monroe, Georgia) and is locked in for his first night on the job. Also locked in is Jennifer Connelly as Josie McClellan, daughter of the richest guy in town. Josie is being a bit rebellious, and dad is looking for her.Old faithful Barry Corbin is Officer Don who is helping dad try to find her. While Jim and Josie are getting to know each other ... they actually were high school classmates but ran in different circles ... two fugitives with guns break in, Dermot Mulroney as Nestor Pyle and Kieran Mulroney as Gil Kinney. This creates even more silly situations. This is not a good movie, but it is entertaining if you like Jennifer Connelly, as she spends most of the movie's running time looking pretty, and there are ample close-up shots of her pretty, smiling face. And that white tank-top. Saw it on the MoMax channel.

Spoilers The phrase "Jennifer Connelly Wow" can be found all over the internet. Hollywood had never seen the likes of Jennifer Connelly before. She is an incredible beauty. I write this 18 years after this movie came out and she still is the hottest woman in Hollywood. There are favorite scenes of Jennifer - The roller skating scene and the rocking horse scenes are near the top for most guys and they are all over Youtube. Jennifer can really distract a guy from seeing what takes place in this movie. The first 20 times I saw this, I had the following questions: 1) Does Josey McClelland (Jennifer Connelly) really like Jim Dodge (Frank Whaley)?2) Since Jim Dodge is considered the town liar and can not seem to hold a job, what does Josey McClelland see in Jim Dodge? What kind of future could she possibly see with Jim Dodge? 3) If Josey likes Jim so much, why does she leave him in the store and drive off, when she steals the crooks' stolen car? Consider, Josey left Jim locked in a store with two angry criminals that subsequently began to look for him with loaded guns.Answers - Well the answers are demonstrated and shown by where the movie winds up. 1) Yes - Definitely!2) She sees that he is honest with her, except for not admitting to himself as well as her, that he does not want to live at home, and he is misunderstood by everyone in this little town including his parents, and everyone sees that Jim is doing something but they call it lying. But Josey has a similar talent and therefore, understands what Jim is good at, and where they need to go to take advantage of their talents. 3) She knows that those two stupid crooks have easily fallen for Jim's lies and acting previously - They are in no way a match for the talents of Jim Dodge. Consider the fantasy (from the leading male or Jim Dodge prospective) that those answers prove out: The sexiest woman comes into your store and is locked in with you for the night. The incredible beauty falls for you, big time, and she sees something about you that no one in this town ever saw. She knows that you are better than any problems that might come along, much better. Because she shares this talent with you The talent she sees in you has been on display for everyone to look at and you even have a nickname pointing to it, and somehow no one ever looked at the positives related to it, except her. Then you give her a point blank demonstration your talent, showing how you can convince two killers by talking into a radio that you picked off the Target shelf and then talking into some little red book, that they are surrounded by men with guns trained on them. This makes her jump for joy, literally. She knows the answer that you don't. The answer she forces you to see, move! You are lying to yourself in thinking you like living at home. Get out of your parents house and get away from this little town and find a place that people appreciate the fact that you are the world's greatest "liar". someone who can easily and naturally make people believe something you are pretending to be. You are therefore, a super talented ACTOR! You go through the town in one last view of it with her than without even saying goodbye, you move out of your parents house and together with her you go to (you guessed it, the place where actors go) Hollywood, California, where the story ends up.