The year was 1987. The story went a little something like this…
Unpopular boy falls in love with popular girl. Popular girl gives him a chance because she is trying to get back at her popular boyfriend. And the unpopular boy’s best friend is in love with him. A social class love triangle. We’ve heard this story so many times before.
But Some Kind of Wonderful is so much more than that. This is John Hughes at his very best – writing another film about the American teenager in an American high school in the 80’s.
This has got to be my favourite John Hughes film. There was one time where it did have fierce competition from both The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink but now I can honestly say it is my favourite – though they do come a very close second.
There isn’t such a noticeable class divide in secondary schools in the UK but the whole divide between popular and non popular kids is still very much there and that continues even when we have all left school.
I think that is why I love it so much. The characters are so well written and I can relate to them the most. I can see little bits of myself in both Keith and Watts.
This is a story about the underdogs and finally the underdogs win.
Keith and Watts are the perfect pair – best friends who bring out the best in each other and the chemistry between the actors is very apparent.
I was routing for Keith and Watts all along. But how could you not?
Keith just wants to prove to everyone, the popular kids at school and his own family that he is worth something more than the labels society cruelly sticks on him.
And Watts is not only a sidekick but a fabulous character in her own right.
Her one line quips like, ‘Oh, you want to start a book club with her?’ and ‘Don't go mistaking paradise for a pair of long legs,’ make her feisty and funny.
And you can tell she is in love with Keith.
When he goes on the date with Amanda Jones you see Watts’s vulnerable side. Her little comments like ‘Is it her body or her face?’ show you she is an insecure girl just like the rest of us.
Yet she does not dwell on situation until right at the end where she makes her very heart wrenching speech to Keith telling him, ‘because I can’t afford to have you hate me Keith. The only things I care about in this goddamn life are me and my drums, and you.’
She has just the right amount of feistiness and vulnerability to make you love her. She is real.
Apart from Keith and Watts, my other favourite character has to be Duncan. Who knew the school bully would turn out to be such a nice guy? He is all about the underdog and sees something in Keith that he didn’t see before.
Just goes to show, appearances are deceptive. I always crack up at the end when Duncan gives his speech saying,
‘We're gonna bring this party up to a nice respectable level. Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt anyone. We're not even gonna touch 'em. We're just gonna make 'em cry a little, just by lookin' at 'em.’
Keith does something no one has ever dared to do before – he stands up to the popular kids.
Why can’t he go out with Amanda Jones? Why should he have to stick to the shadows?
He angers Amanda Jones with his speech about, ‘rather being alone for the right reasons.’ She knows it is true and her behaviour has been wrong.
He brings all the underdogs together and finally breaks the barriers of social class.
This film encompasses everything you would want from a film. This is a film the whole family could watch and at the end everyone would take something away and feel so empowered.
I love that the film doesn’t just focus on the relationships between the high school kids, we also see Keith’s home life as well.
The breakfast scene makes me laugh and is something I can relate very much to because it reminds me of my family.
In this particular scene my brother would be Keith. I would be Laura telling my mother, ‘the girl *is* sex,’ and my little sister would most definitely reply with a comment like ‘For God's sake, I'm eating!’
Towards the end of the film there is a touching scene between Keith and his father.
‘Dad, I work at a gas station, I love art, my best friend is a tom-boy. These things don't fly over well in the American high school.’
‘Keith, I had no idea.’
‘How could you? You're my father.’
Finally they come to some kind of an understanding. His father doesn’t realise how much Keith goes through as a teenager and by saying, ‘how could you? You’re my father,’ it is clear Keith forgives him.
The ending is really ‘some kind of wonderful’.
Keith finally realises he is in love with Watts. He gives her the diamond earrings and says what has to be the best line of the film, ‘You look good wearing my future.’
Though we knew it all along didn’t we? Or secretly hoped. Watts is gorgeous and it just goes to show you don’t have to be the popular, conventionally pretty girl to have someone fall in love with you – it just takes longer for them to realise.
After all, ‘No one can stand being alone. The minute you stop thinking there’s someone out there for you, it’s over you know?’
Unpopular boy falls in love with popular girl. Popular girl gives him a chance because she is trying to get back at her popular boyfriend. And the unpopular boy’s best friend is in love with him. A social class love triangle. We’ve heard this story so many times before.
But Some Kind of Wonderful is so much more than that. This is John Hughes at his very best – writing another film about the American teenager in an American high school in the 80’s.
This has got to be my favourite John Hughes film. There was one time where it did have fierce competition from both The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink but now I can honestly say it is my favourite – though they do come a very close second.
There isn’t such a noticeable class divide in secondary schools in the UK but the whole divide between popular and non popular kids is still very much there and that continues even when we have all left school.
I think that is why I love it so much. The characters are so well written and I can relate to them the most. I can see little bits of myself in both Keith and Watts.
This is a story about the underdogs and finally the underdogs win.
Keith and Watts are the perfect pair – best friends who bring out the best in each other and the chemistry between the actors is very apparent.
I was routing for Keith and Watts all along. But how could you not?
Keith just wants to prove to everyone, the popular kids at school and his own family that he is worth something more than the labels society cruelly sticks on him.
And Watts is not only a sidekick but a fabulous character in her own right.
Her one line quips like, ‘Oh, you want to start a book club with her?’ and ‘Don't go mistaking paradise for a pair of long legs,’ make her feisty and funny.
And you can tell she is in love with Keith.
When he goes on the date with Amanda Jones you see Watts’s vulnerable side. Her little comments like ‘Is it her body or her face?’ show you she is an insecure girl just like the rest of us.
Yet she does not dwell on situation until right at the end where she makes her very heart wrenching speech to Keith telling him, ‘because I can’t afford to have you hate me Keith. The only things I care about in this goddamn life are me and my drums, and you.’
She has just the right amount of feistiness and vulnerability to make you love her. She is real.
Apart from Keith and Watts, my other favourite character has to be Duncan. Who knew the school bully would turn out to be such a nice guy? He is all about the underdog and sees something in Keith that he didn’t see before.
Just goes to show, appearances are deceptive. I always crack up at the end when Duncan gives his speech saying,
‘We're gonna bring this party up to a nice respectable level. Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt anyone. We're not even gonna touch 'em. We're just gonna make 'em cry a little, just by lookin' at 'em.’
Keith does something no one has ever dared to do before – he stands up to the popular kids.
Why can’t he go out with Amanda Jones? Why should he have to stick to the shadows?
He angers Amanda Jones with his speech about, ‘rather being alone for the right reasons.’ She knows it is true and her behaviour has been wrong.
He brings all the underdogs together and finally breaks the barriers of social class.
This film encompasses everything you would want from a film. This is a film the whole family could watch and at the end everyone would take something away and feel so empowered.
I love that the film doesn’t just focus on the relationships between the high school kids, we also see Keith’s home life as well.
The breakfast scene makes me laugh and is something I can relate very much to because it reminds me of my family.
In this particular scene my brother would be Keith. I would be Laura telling my mother, ‘the girl *is* sex,’ and my little sister would most definitely reply with a comment like ‘For God's sake, I'm eating!’
Towards the end of the film there is a touching scene between Keith and his father.
‘Dad, I work at a gas station, I love art, my best friend is a tom-boy. These things don't fly over well in the American high school.’
‘Keith, I had no idea.’
‘How could you? You're my father.’
Finally they come to some kind of an understanding. His father doesn’t realise how much Keith goes through as a teenager and by saying, ‘how could you? You’re my father,’ it is clear Keith forgives him.
The ending is really ‘some kind of wonderful’.
Keith finally realises he is in love with Watts. He gives her the diamond earrings and says what has to be the best line of the film, ‘You look good wearing my future.’
Though we knew it all along didn’t we? Or secretly hoped. Watts is gorgeous and it just goes to show you don’t have to be the popular, conventionally pretty girl to have someone fall in love with you – it just takes longer for them to realise.
After all, ‘No one can stand being alone. The minute you stop thinking there’s someone out there for you, it’s over you know?’
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