moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (06/21/85)
SECRET ADMIRER (USA, 1985)
Director: David Greenwalt
Screenwriter: Jim Kouf
Cast: C. Thomas Howell, Dee Wallace, Leigh Taylor-Young, Fred
Ward, Cliff deYoung, Lore Loughlin
[World Premiere]
In looking over the last two years of "teenage sex/romance
comedies", I tried to categorize the different levels that each had
reached. There are those which are wonderful comedies when
compared to any film: only _Risky_Business_ and especially
_The_Sure_Thing_ have met these standards. There are films
which have not been *great* comedies, but have had characters
interesting enought to follow through the film: _Sixteen_Candles_ is
a good example of this. And then there is the drek: _Porky's_, all
those silly-assed Fort Lauderdale films, etc. Well,
_Secret_Admirer_ is above the latter level, but it is not quite as
good as _Sixteen_Candles_, and all-in-all, it has little going for it.
_Secret_Admirer_ is basically a reworking of all those Shakespeare
comedies where some element (a love potion, a jester, a message --
in this film, a love letter signed by a "secret admirer") which enters
into several romances/relationships of a group of people, causing
everyone to either begin romancing someone else in the group, or
causing someone to become extremely jealous. Of course, since it's
a comedy, everything is straightened out in the end, and by George,
that happens here, too (big spoiler). And frankly, there's not much
to say about it. The love letter makes the parents of two families
think the other had sent it, and all sorts of complications arise from
this. On the other hand, we have the hero (Howell) in love with a
blond bimboette who is in love with a college neanderthal, while a
very pretty friend of Howell's (Loughlin) is in love with Howell, but
he doesn't notice 'cause she's his friend, so she writes him a secret
admirer note, and... you get the picture. Loughlin is very good,
though I have no idea what she see's in Howell's character, and the
sense of innocent romance works very nicely here. And I will
admit the the _Porky's_ -type innanities are kept to a minimum.
However, the rest of the film is basically pratfalls and mistaken
identity jokes, and just not particularly funny. Avoid this unless
it's on a double feature with something good. It's not offensively
stupid, just stupid.
"And that was the end of Grogan, the man who killed my father,
raped and murdered my sister, burned my ranch, shot my dog, and
stole my Bible!"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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