Review of Shag

Shag (1988)
Carefree 80s Girl Movie. (spoilers)
28 July 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Shag is a pretty laid back, Saturday afternoon variety of 80s movies.

Set in South Carolina in the 1960s, it is the story of a group of girls who take a road trip out to Myrtle Beach for the week before their friend goes off to get married. Consider it, a bachelorette weekend. Only, bad girl Melanie Buller (Bridget Fonda), soft-spoken Caroline 'Pudge' (Anabeth Gish), and exceedingly proper Luann (Page Hannah) have more in mind for their conservative engaged friend, Carson (Cates) than lying on the beach and catching a tan. The girls try to get Carson to break out of her conservative, timid shell and let loose and have some fun while she's still legally single. But, in fact, there is more in store for everyone during their wild stay at the summer house, not just Carson.

Specifically, all this happens when the girls arrive at the summer home and meet two rambunctious guys. Robert Russler plays the suave romantic, Buzz who pursues hard-to-get Carson who keeps insisting that, despite whatever feelings and attractions she can't help but to feel for Buzz, she's going to be married to some boring stiff named Harley (Power). Basically, she is all rules, and he isn't. Is Harley who she really wants to be with? The other guy is Scott Coffey, with his typical red-headed buzz cut who becomes 'Pudges' new friend in a very young puppy love kind of relationship as well as her dance partner in a Shag contest in which she's up against Melanie's rival, two vicious local babes who don't like the group. Melanie is constantly competing with them in beauty contests, for boyfriends, etc.

Everyone's various going-ons turns into a giant disaster as they all try to keep things going smoothly. Carson is falling for Buzz about the same time Harley announces he's coming out to the house. Luann's house is practically destroyed as they all get drunk and a bunch of locals invite themselves in for a huge bash about the same time Luann's parents announce they're coming out to the beach. It all turns into a wild mess, and makes for a pretty funny series of events and quite a cute story.

Loaded with plenty of familiar actors during their prime years, this is a fun story particularly recommended for female 80s fans. This is just a movie about a bunch of girls try to cut loose before their friend heads off to get married, and one that has established itself as a cult classic.
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