The Rachel Papers (1989)

Okay-this is definitely trying to parade around as an English Bueller... but the thing is, is that the book is terrific, and if they just stayed on track using what was there it would've been a lot better. Amis must've gotten huge pay dirt to okay the screenplay and help write it.My suggestion- go buy the book, or take the book out from your local library and have a good read. Charles Highway is an irritating character but still quite lovable and the movie does him, nor Rachel (who is actually supposed to be English) no justice.Martin Amis is a talented author, especially in the area of humour, and this movie does not allow for that natural laugh to come through. In many areas it seems like a low rent British "Fast Times" with the characters rolling around on the ground in lousy sex scenes and then stumbling through lines of dialogue as if they had just gotten the script that morning. It is too bad Amis let whatever it is that got in the way of a good film, get in the way of a good film.

This has to be the worst movie I've ever seen. Thankfully I didn't watch all of it. I think this Dexter Fletcher retard was looking up to the teen-aged Anthony Michael Hall as his role model of studliness in this embarrassing train-wreck of a movie (and in the process, making the teen-aged Anthony Michael Hall look like Brad Pitt). The incessant 80s music soundtrack was only a little more tolerable than the sound of fingernails scraping a chalkboard. The little asides to the audience - that only worked for Ferris. With *this* movie, Dexter Dipshit's asides just made me want to beat the crap out of him. I mean, here he was, confiding in me, the audience, all his stupid-ass thoughts, as though we were the best of friends. I wanted to make sure he understood we were *not* the best of friends by beating him to a bloody pulp.Seeing Ione naked should've helped, but it didn't. In fact, watching her writhe around with this little asshole made me never want to have sex again.This movie is on my list of things to erase from history if ever I get hold of a time machine.Seriously, this movie sucks major ass. Don't see it. I think I have a brain tumor now.

I have found "The Rachel Papers" to be a delightful mix of young convoluted romance, bittersweet in nature, and a bit of cute comedy. I've seen the movie several times, having taped it in 1991, and find it refreshing each time I view it.I particularly enjoy the music soundtrack which I feel gives each scene its own distinctive flavor. Dexter Fletcher plays an excellent role as an egotistical yet bumbling opportunist, and Ione Skye is outstanding as the target of Dexter's amorous intentions, and is somewhat equally nebulous of mind as is Dexter.It impresses me as a free-spirited production that does not require a great deal of laborious attention on the part of the viewer, and as such is truly entertaining.

Despite some fine performances and great source material, this movie doesn't stand up as well as I'd hoped it would. It's either too dark and serious for the comedy it hopes to be or it's too gauzy for the serious look at modern teenagers in Britain that it hopes to be.Still, it's interesting to see Dexter "did you know I was in Bugsy Malone AND Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrells" Fletcher, Ione "wow, am I really this naked in this movie" Skye, Jonathon "why aren't I working more often?" Pryce and James "didn't I play this same character only with more lines in Pretty in Pink" Spader in a movie that hardly any American has ever heard of...This has its clever moments, its funny moments, its heartbreaking moments and a few moments that are meant to be (and are) disturbing... It's not as clever as its American cousin, or as funny...but it does have a bit more depth...and Ione Skye is REALLY naked in it.That's worth a rental, isn't it?