Review of “About Last Night…”

/ Richard R. Barron

Based on the play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, the 1986 dramedy About Last Night… stars Demi Moore as the shallow, good-looking bitch like the ones who wouldn’t go out with me in the 1980s, and Rob Lowe as the shallow, good-looking douche who those women went out with instead. It co-stars Jim Belushi as the morally bankrupt dickwad best friend of Lowe, and Elizabeth Perkins as Moore’s best friend who is so hateful that she ends up dating using, shallow slimebags.

Demi Moore in 1985; she reminded me of a girlfriend from that era because of her thick mane of dark hair and her bright, intelligent eyes. These days, she reminds me what it was like to be in my 20s in the 1980s.
Demi Moore in 1985; she reminded me of a girlfriend from that era because of her thick mane of dark hair and her bright, intelligent eyes. These days, she reminds me what it was like to be in my 20s in the 1980s.

In the late 1980s, I fell in love with this movie because Demi Moore looked so angelic in it, and she vaguely physically resembled a woman who had just broken my heart. They were the lamest possible reasons to like a movie, but I am known for some pretty lame moves sometimes. Best thing about this movie? Trite, 1980s-esque saxophone solos.

As you may have guessed, the years have not been kind to my opinion of this movie. It espouses so many despicable things about the 1980s, and in the process bludgeons us with the notion that we are simply watching Hollywood make money from it.

Possible alternate titles for this movie come from quotes from the script:

“Proving to herself once again that all men are selfish bastards.” -Lowe

“Two people committed to screwing each other until they get sick of each other.” -Moore

While I am on my high horse trashing movies, here is a list of intriguing premises that went wrong is some movies:

Stargate

  • Intriguing premise: Egyptian hieroglyphs lead to another world
  • Where it went wrong: Kurt Russell

Altered States

  • Intriguing premise: Altered states of consciousness have meaning
  • Where it went wrong: Turning into an actual monkey

The Matrix

  • Intriguing premise: The world might be an elaborate deception
  • Where it went wrong: “Guns. Lots of guns.”

Amadeus

  • Intriguing premise: The story of Mozart
  • Where it went wrong: The 1980s

Starship Troopers

  • Intriguing premise: Civilians and citizens in a meritocracy
  • Where it went wrong: (Sound of endless automatic weapons firing)

Midway

  • Intriguing premise: Tell the story of one of the turning points of the 20th century
  • Where it went wrong: Ultra-low budget + Charlton Heston

Napoleon Dynamite

  • Nurds are funny
  • For about five minutes

In conclusion, this movie makes an excellent double feature with St. Elmo’s Fire.