Someone has called this the ultimate Brat Pack movie and while I gladly will accept all nominations for rivals, this will do until someone suggests a better one.
St. Elmo's Fire centers on the lives and loves of seven 20 something college graduates from the Georgetown, Maryland suburb of Washington, DC. They're all starting out with careers of some kind, but they're also looking for THE career move and the move to a real life partner.
They run quite a gamut from Judd Nelson an aide to a Congressman to Rob Lowe who bounces from job to job and who really just wants to play his saxophone. The women are an assorted lot as well from hedonistic Demi Moore to virginal Mare Winningham with Ally Sheedy in the middle.
We can't forget Emilio Estevez as the law student who works at St. Elmo's bar where they all hang out and Andrew McCarthy the cynical writer who's about to become a victim of what he doesn't believe in, committed love. Except for Winningham, they seem to have all hooked up with each other at one time or other and she's saving herself for the irresponsible Lowe. When you see the stiff her rich parents, Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten, are trying to set her up with, you can't really blame her.
There's no real plot to St. Elmo's Fire, but the film is a character study of the young folk of the Eighties, at least the young white folk of the Eighties. It might have been nice to have included a minority or two in the cast. Still the characters do have a certain charm and you do care about what's to become of them. Best performances in the film are Rob Lowe for the men and Demi Moore for the women. They also have the showiest roles.
As sociological study of the young urban professional of the time, you can't beat St. Elmo's Fire. Not bad in the entertainment department either.
St. Elmo's Fire centers on the lives and loves of seven 20 something college graduates from the Georgetown, Maryland suburb of Washington, DC. They're all starting out with careers of some kind, but they're also looking for THE career move and the move to a real life partner.
They run quite a gamut from Judd Nelson an aide to a Congressman to Rob Lowe who bounces from job to job and who really just wants to play his saxophone. The women are an assorted lot as well from hedonistic Demi Moore to virginal Mare Winningham with Ally Sheedy in the middle.
We can't forget Emilio Estevez as the law student who works at St. Elmo's bar where they all hang out and Andrew McCarthy the cynical writer who's about to become a victim of what he doesn't believe in, committed love. Except for Winningham, they seem to have all hooked up with each other at one time or other and she's saving herself for the irresponsible Lowe. When you see the stiff her rich parents, Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten, are trying to set her up with, you can't really blame her.
There's no real plot to St. Elmo's Fire, but the film is a character study of the young folk of the Eighties, at least the young white folk of the Eighties. It might have been nice to have included a minority or two in the cast. Still the characters do have a certain charm and you do care about what's to become of them. Best performances in the film are Rob Lowe for the men and Demi Moore for the women. They also have the showiest roles.
As sociological study of the young urban professional of the time, you can't beat St. Elmo's Fire. Not bad in the entertainment department either.