Let me start by saying that I had my doubts about this movie. I pretty much thought it would be a slightly-not-as-good-as-Superbad-yet-still-Superbad-in-the-80s romp, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was definitely Superbad in the 80s, but the overall sentiment was different and I found the actors to be engaging and almost more fun to watch than it's "younger" predecessor.The difference between the two is this: Superbad gets old. It does. I almost hate admitting that, but it's true. I remember seeing Superbad in a packed house filled with all manner of people and utterly laughing my ass off, but about a year later I was staying over at a hotel during a road trip and it was on HBO or whatever so Mike and I were all excited to see it again and you know what happened? We laughed about about 80% less than we had initially. One might say this is normal, that you know the jokes, that you see them coming and thus, shit isn't as funny, but that's simply bullhonkey. I to this day laugh at Ace Ventura and The Big Lebowski as much as I did the first day I saw them, so good comedy does stand the test of time. I'm not saying that as a segue to revealing that Take Me Home Tonight is a timeless comedic classic, but I think it's more timeless than Superbad ever had a chance to be.
There are a couple key conversations in the film that make it sort of resonate emotionally as well, one being a conversation between Grace and his love interest-Teresa Palmer-at a stereotypically 80s fortune-500 office party. Initially, Palmer starts out saying all the right things when Grace asks her if she enjoys her job, but at some point she just blurts out that she hates it and everything about it and it's awesome. It's liberating to hear her say it because you can actually see the relief surge through her once she does. Not only that, but it's nice to see someone admit that that financial world is a huge fallacy full of pointlessness. The idea of "the soulless pursuit of money" came to mind.
In addition, there's a nice moment between Grace and his father, played by Michael Biehn, that really sat well with me because it reminded me so much of my own station in life and some of the conversations I've had with my own mom. Not to mention it made me happy to know that it's usually hard for people to figure life out, and that maybe it never does get figured out, but the important thing is to know when to just go for it...just to prove to yourself that you can, failure or success not withstanding.
The kicker of this movie is Dan Fogler, who is the comedic heart of the film and thoroughly enjoyable to watch, laugh at and laugh with. Not to mention, he actually does what I'm sure all of us have dreamed of at some point. Get fired-very publicly-then break in to work, set off the alarm and steal the most badass car (the boss's car) on the lot. Since it's an 80s movie this act is of course followed by finding blow in the glovebox, but that just adds to the vibe of the film and is damn funny.
I didn't need to see this movie in a theater, but I enjoyed it and I would definitely say that it would make an excellent rental for a boring Friday night. You'll laugh, you'll feel a kinship to the movie and you'll get a straight into-the-veins-dose of one of the wackiest and most often themed party-d decades of all time.
