Class (1983) is the feature film debut of Andrew McCarthy, Alan Ruck, Casey Siemaszko, Virginia Madsen, Lolita Davidovich, and of course, John Cusack. It also stars Rob Lowe, Jacqueline Bisset, and Cliff Robertson. The guy who played Lt. Proctor in the Police Academy movies also makes a fleeting appearance in a bar scene. With this many moderately big name actors, one would think this would be a very good film. One would be wrong. Here's what Roger Ebert had to say about it 27 years ago.Don't get me wrong, it's miles away from the worst movie I've ever seen. It's not even as bad as the worst movie I own. I dare say it foreshadows some of the brilliance to come from Rob Lowe. It most definitely foreshadows Andrew McCarthy's career: roles in which he stares vacantly into the distance with a goofy half smile, pines after the unattainable woman, somehow obtains said woman, immediately loses said woman, then broods about it. If there's a word that means to do the same thing as brooding but doing it in a sissy way, it should be "andrewmccarthy." For example: "Dude, you should get over that girl and go out with us tonight." "No, I cannot. I am so sad. I'm going to make a white wine spritzer, watch Project: Runway, and andrewmccarthy." (Full Disclosure: I have a deep dislike for Andrew McCarthy and think he can't act his way out of a paper bag. He only works in ensemble casts, like this one, or St. Elmo's Fire. Also, quick trivia: Mannequin's working title was Class. Although, that's Mannequin from 1937.)
Andrew McCarthy stars as Jonathon Ogner, a working class kid from Pennsylvania who begins attending an elite prep school in Illinois. He rooms with Franklin "Skip" Burroughs IV (Rob Lowe). Despite their class differences and the fact that Rob Lowe is 93 billion times cooler than Andrew McCarthy, they become best friends in about 29 seconds. After a minorly comedic scene that features the cinematic debut of Virginia Madsen's boobie, Jonathan is banned from the school's dance with their sister school. Skip's concern that Jonathan will stay in their dorm room and andrewmccarthy all night forces him to give him $100 and send him to Chicago to find a nice hooker. After several embarrassing encounters with various women at the bar in Chicago, he decides to give up and andrewmccarthy at the bar. A very nice looking middle-aged lady (Jacqueline Bisset) offers to console him by making sex in an elevator, then in a hotel room for the rest of the weekend. They continue their affair until she discovers he's a high school student and abandons him in New York City. He then spirals downward into what I can only refer to as a deep andrewmccarthy, being ever so sad about his lost "love."
He consoles himself by going home with Skip for the holidays. Skip's family is loaded, and they have quite the palacial estate. Upon arrival, Jonathan discovers that Skip's mother is SPOILER ALERT! his former lover. Insert requisite awkward facial expressions that essentially scream, "We have met before, done the nasty in all sorts of places, and it ended poorly." Yadda, yadda, yadda. Skip finds out, hates Jonathan, they don't talk for a long time, then finally explode on each other in a fight scene only slightly less homoerotic than Top Gun volleyball. Think the Stripes mudwrestling scene with Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy. The movie ends with Seinfeld finale-like disappointment after their fight, wherein they have apparently made up amongst the mud.
Okay, I spent far too long on the movie synopsis, especially given that this movie wasn't good. The true focus of this project is John Cusack, and we'll now look at his performance. He plays Roscoe Maibaum, a classmate of Jonathan and Skip. Initially, he seems to be kind of a jerk, his first lines are "Great, douchebag", but he becomes likable throughout the movie. That being said, his role is rather minimal and this will not fall into the category of "John Cusack Films That Changed My Life." At any rate, the point of this project is to view the entire Cusack catalog, and it has begun. The beauty of this small role is that he had nowhere to go but up, at least in terms of roles that showed his amazing talent.
Class--Overall Grade-C+(only brought up by Rob Lowe's performance)
Cusack grade-incomplete (He will receive an incomplete for all movies in which his role is minimal, unless he just knocks it out of the park or really brings something to the movie through a small role.)
Next up is Sixteen Candles, a movie I've seen so many times I could quite possible write out the screenplay by memory with 90% accuracy. I also know this is another small role for Cusack, but if I remember his scenes correctly, he does some things quite well. At any rate, it is on hold at the library and awaits my viewing.
