Girls Just Want To Have Fun (1985)

She’s the new kid in school, an army brat that has never known stability. She’s awkward and shy, somewhat uncertain of herself. But despite frustrations at home, she’s full of cheer and the thing that gives her the most joy is Dance TV, a daily institution in her new adopted home of Chicago.

Janey’s cheerfulness immediately attracts the attention of Van Halen fanatic Lynne, who becomes her new best friend. She, too, loves Dance TV. And when they watch the British host (who sounds Australian to me) announce a contest to find two new dancers to join the show’s regulars, nothing else matters. Janey’s dream is about to come true.

Sarah Jessica Parker plays her while Helen Hunt is the mischievous Lynne, her boy-hungry classmate who is curiously and paradoxically unattached despite having a strong libido and seemingly low standards, although even she wants nothing to do with creepy Jonathan Silverman.

Yeah, let’s talk about him for a minute. A wannabe entrepreneur constantly hustling unauthorized Dance TV merch that no one buys, this annoying shit is also an unapologetic perv with no boundaries.

Peeking down a woman’s top when she’s bent over (thankfully unseen), making an inappropriate comment to Janey (thankfully unheard by her), his worst moment comes at a dance club called The Court (neat-o outdoor neon sign, though).

Muscling in on somebody’s gal, he proceeds to convince her to play along with a World War II-inspired scam. It’s all to get her to raise her arms, so he can “radio Tokyo”, if you sniff what The Earl is baking.

Romantic comedies in the 1980s were notorious for making jokes out of sexual assault and for normalizing such abuse. Watching this compulsive creep grab the horrified woman’s tits thinking this was ok is the most uncomfortable scene in the entire film. I wish I had the same reaction when I first saw this as a less enlightened teen myself.

I blame my former dance partner. Her family invited mine to have a fun night with them at their house, something that happened a lot in the late 80s and early 90s. One time, I’m thinking 1987, while the parents were yakking away in a different room, she wanted me to see this movie which did not sound appealing but she played it anyway. Her big selling point was the radio Tokyo gag which did not make the film any more enjoyable. But yeah, at the time, it amused me, if for a fleeting moment. It doesn’t anymore. I know better.

It’s the only scene I still remembered from all those decades ago, probably because for the most part I wasn’t really paying that close attention. I just didn’t care. Watching Girls Just Want To Have Fun Again on my own terms recently with much greater focus, I now fully understand this is familiar underdog terrain. There’s no doubt what will happen during the big contest at the end. But I liked Hunt and Parker, yet to have their breakthroughs, and their natural chemistry even though they’re given zero funny things to say. (The only actual laughs come from the music news reporter on Dance TV who admires the artificially enhanced bodies of the men carrying her around on furniture and a special thank you in the end credits to The Buttheads. Tough luck, Beavises.)

Silverman’s own best friend is Lee Montgomery, a hunky piece of dream meat who greatly resembles a young Joey Lawrence. (A bit insecure himself he needs to be convinced by his obnoxious pal to even try out for the show.) Hunt notices him first but Parker is reluctant. Defiantly, Hunt, a great wingman, immediately blurts out Parker’s number to him during the outdoor auditions for the Dream TV contest and very quickly, he’s calling her for night rehearsals. They clash over their differing styles even though doubles do most of the dancing. (An unintentional laugh comes the first time Parker’s replacement starts doing backflips during her tryout because it’s so noticeable.) Parker seems conflicted but that won’t last long.

Movies like this always have a spoiled vamp to provide adversity for the hero. Holly Gagnier, who resembles a young big-haired Sophia Bush, is the snotty daughter of a bottle factory mogul who actually employs Montgomery’s supportive dad. Thinking like a wrestling booker, she wants to be put over, ethics and rules be damned. (She pays her audition partner to make sure Hunt doesn’t make the cut.) That starts a childish war between her and Parker.

When Parker sneaks out of choir practice for a day rehearsal with Montgomery, Gagnier rats them out pretending to be one of the humourless nuns at their girls only Catholic high school by calling her strict, overprotective dad, a retired military bigwig who doesn’t want her gallivanting out at night on her own. But for some reason during the call Gagnier uses her own name. (Maybe she wanted to send a message?)

Parker and Hunt find out that Montgomery’s been invited by a lusty Gagnier to a country club soiree being thrown in her honour. So the gals, feeling devious, decide to make multiple photocopies of the invitation Montgomery temporarily thinks about throwing away and hand them over to as many undesirables they can find including punks and female bodybuilders, all of whom crash the party and start breaking shit. One of those punks is apparently Robert Downey Jr. but I didn’t spot him.

Getting desperate, Gagnier’s white-haired dad puts the belated squeeze on Montgomery, who gets grumpy when things don’t go his way, threatening some kind of unspoken retribution against his dad which ends up being an empty threat. His dad hates the gig and doesn’t even give a fuck.

Even though the movie runs less than 90 minutes, it takes an awful long time to get to the finale when the six advancing couples from the outdoor tryouts dance it out for Chicago one last time. Of course there’s a tie. Of course the babyfaces will get a push after a sudden death dance-off. And yeah, Hunt gets a consolation prize at the last minute after being the subject of a screwjob.

However, during the earlier auditions, I preferred these two Black girls, identical twins, who unfortunately don’t get any lines. During the TV show, they do a mirror bit but their earlier routine is stronger.

The best couple in the finals actually dance first but are essentially extras with forgettable names like the twins. Since it’s between the heels and Parker & Montgomery, based on the dancing alone, the booking is correct.

My Mom was an accomplished dancer for much of her life and later ran her own respected dance studio. I don’t remember if she actually saw this movie. It never came up in our conversations. But I think she would’ve agreed with me that the men and women who dance either during the auditions or on numerous airings of Dance TV are all talented, including a young Gina Gershon, apparently, although during the opening credit sequence the men are given more challenging moves to perform and therefore stand out more, at least at the start of it.

Some of the music, much of it original and written for the film, is catchy if a bit slight. You can understand why the soundtrack was not a best seller, though. It’s danceable fluff that won’t shatter your senses or leave a lasting impression, although the uptempo Dance TV theme might be an exception to that.

Cyndi Lauper, who famously covered Girls Just Want To Have Fun but with changed lyrics, outright refused to allow her version to be used in the film. It honestly doesn’t make any difference to the overall quality. I’ve never liked that song, anyway. It always drove me nuts as a kid.

The actors do what they can with the usual subpar slop they’ve been given. God knows almost all of them deserve better, especially a very young Shannen Doherty, Montgomery’s younger sister, who develops a gross crush on Jonathan Silverman, for some reason. When he plants one on her in celebration at the end, she is wide-eyed and thrilled. (At least, he doesn’t “radio Tokyo” again.)

Based on the way he treats other women, I was hoping for a different reaction.

Dennis Earl
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Monday, March 18, 2024
4:18 a.m.