Ex-TV commercial director Adrian (Flashdance, 9½ Weeks) Lyne made his feature film debut with this slick movie about four 16-year-old girls growing up in the San Fernando Valley, California, and their problems with life and men.
A young Jodie Foster is Jeanie, the straight-arrow sorting out her friends at “boring” North Hollywood High, including podgy, unloved Madge (Marilyn Kagan), compulsive liar Deirdre (Kandice Stroh), and abused hooker Annie (ex-Runaways band member Cherie Currie).
Jeanie clashes with her mother, Mary (Sally Kellerman), who does a lousy job of balancing family, school, and work; Madge attempts to set up housekeeping with an older man named Jay (Randy Quaid); Hottie Dierdre plays adolescent romantic games, breaking hearts along the way; and doomed Annie functions as a one-woman cautionary tale against bad boys and hard drugs.
Foster’s Bugsy Malone co-star Scott Baio provides the male interest as Brad, but it’s really one to watch for the girls, who all overcome a clichéd script to give a good depiction of what it was like to be a teenager at the end of the 1970s.
Former British pop star Adam Faith has a small role as Jeanie’s tour manager father and a young Laura Dern appears briefly in an early role.
Jeanie
Jodie Foster Madge
Marilyn Kagan Annie
Cherie Currie Deirdre
Kandice Stroh Mary
Sally Kellerman Jay
Randy Quaid Brad
Scott Baio Mrs Axman
Lois Smith Bryan
Adam Faith Debbie
Laura Dern
Jeanie clashes with her mother, Mary (Sally Kellerman), who does a lousy job of balancing family, school, and work; Madge attempts to set up housekeeping with an older man named Jay (Randy Quaid); Hottie Dierdre plays adolescent romantic games, breaking hearts along the way; and doomed Annie functions as a one-woman cautionary tale against bad boys and hard drugs.
Former British pop star Adam Faith has a small role as Jeanie’s tour manager father and a young Laura Dern appears briefly in an early role.
