A great look into the 80s movies that we know and love. I especially loved the in-depth look at the feminist intentions behind Dirty Dancing, which I honestly had never thought about before. Looking at how Penny's abortion plays into the entire concept of the movie and is actually it's driving force was amazing. I also loved how the writer (of Dirty Dancing) mentioned that she wanted to show that abortions don't always end in heartache or pain, but sometimes really is the best decision possible. I honestly think this was the most memorable chapter for me, but I did love the look into Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller, and Ghostbusters as well. Honestly, it's an all around great read.

While I'm sure the author had good intentions, this book was not entirely what I expected. The author spent the first 1/3 of the book seemingly bashing John Hughes and his films describing their short comings in a way that suggested not only did she dislike JH and his movies, but they somehow just annoyed her to the point that she wanted to get rid of them all together. Honestly it was like she despised them and the entire concept of John Hughes as a creator was laughable and the films he produced were far beneath her. (As my own personal side note it also seemed as if her dislike of both was personal as if she had been rejected by JH and now was making it her personal mission to drag anything associated with him through the mud, which I'm sure isn't the case but that's just the sort of attitude that come off). Basically, it was very off-putting at times especially when she seemed overly arrogant in her analysis (not just in the John Hughes section, but throughout the book). She goes on to praise The Heathers and it's creator(s) and spends the rest of the book summarizing various teen series/movies such as Clueless, American Pie, Bring It On, Cruel Intentions, Popular, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. sometimes paying way too much attention to name dropping actual episodes (No one should be that committed to Popular honestly). Some of her descriptions and analyses of movies were good (I especially liked her attention to 10 Things I Hate About You, Cruel Intentions, the admittedly underrated Girl Next Door and Bend It Like Beckham), but unfortunately some of this was really clouded by her constant 'grasping at straws to seem profound' approach. She tired way too hard at times and seemed like she was doing more guess work at times than anything and looking for deeper meanings where there simply didn't seem to be any (and I say this as a person who has watched most, if not all, of these movies/tv shows countless times). Actually....I rolled my eyes a lot while reading this book. All in all I just hope her other writing is better than this one. It was good in the sense that it looked at movies and shows that sometimes get ignored but it left a lot to be desired. No one wants to read something where the author seems like a pompous ass for most of the book, at least in non-fiction anyway.

I loooved this book. I bought it because I'm a huge fan of 80s teen movies and figured why not get an inside look. I had no clue just how much of an inside look I would get from this! I really recommend it for people who love the "Brat pack" movies (even though now I think I should stop using that term after reading about all the trouble it caused) or anyone who loves getting an inside look at the drama/process of how these movies were made. Definitely a good read!

P.S. Be warned, it may slightly change your view of John Hughes as a person if you weren't already aware of his...ahem antics. I certainly wasn't so some of what was said in this book came as a surprise to me.