Last night, as I was getting ready for bed, I flipped by 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.' It's an 80s movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt, Lee Montgomery, Jonathan Silverman and Shannen Doherty. The premise of the movie is that SJP is the daughter of a strict, military man and all she wants to do is be a regular on Dance TV. Lee Montgomery is the son of a middle-class family whose father expects him to go to trade school when in reality, all he wants to do is be a regular on Dance TV.
The first half of the movie is just how these two go to an open park/field and try out to get onto the wildly popular Dance TV. They, along with hundreds of other dance hopefuls, just get up on stage and shake it and put their moves out there in hopes that the judge will pick them from the crowd to become a finalist on Dance TV. It's all very competitive - because of course you have the nemesis, Natalie - the rich girl who has to have everything her way. She drives around in a red, convertible Mercedes. After school, she walks around in nothing but a leotard and scrunched white boots. She's a debutante ; she's a bitch. In modern psychology, most would say that Natalie is so insecure with herself that she feels she must resort to cheating and sabotage in order to win.
You can imagine how it ends (SJP and her partner, now boyfriend, become Dance TV regulars, despite all the battles they had to face to get there - military dad, working class dad, spoiled nemesis) but my question is where has all the lively dancing gone? Where have the days gone where you can sit in a parking lot, turn on the car radio and just dance like there's no tomorrow - a la Ariel in Footloose (right before her Dad slaps her in front of all her friendies)?
Nowadays it's all about competition, competition, competition. So you think you can dance? You wanna be part of this guy's crew? There are no more dance shows where the camera just pans around a dressed up studio to watch people dancing (hello, Kelly Ripa). Does Dance Party USA and Club MTV not make for good television? Cause once these dancers, on today's dance competitions win, what happens to them? At least on American Idol, those guys put out records. What do the winners of 'So You Think You Can Dance' do?
And for that matter, what happened to Lee Montgomery - the male lead in 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun?' It looks like his career stopped around 1988. When I saw him on TV last night, he looked like a much cuter Joey Lawrence. I think there needs to be a 'Where Are They Now' show - the super-obscure version - like where is Lee Montgomery? Whatever happened to the girl that played Natalie? Why didn't Lori Singer's career take off? And where exactly is Jake from 'Sixteen Candles'? I think many people would like to know!
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As sad as it is, I know where Jake from Sixteen Candles is - he's married, has a couple of kids and lives in PA and I think he's a carpenter.
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