St Elmo's Fire (DVD 2004)

I have been looking for this film for ages and was over the moon when i found it.though it is an eighties film my ten year old son was hooked when he watched it, and said afterwards that he thought that it reflected life today,as the characters

I decided to buy this film as it is one of my all time favourites. I had it taped off the telly years ago on a video - so i thought i would treat myself to the dvd. The film is really good with a great story - some great actors / actresses in - and great music too.

This interesting coming-of-age film follows the developments amongst a group seven friends from college into adulthood. The group at first come across as a bunch of self-indulgent whiners struggling to accept the fact that college is long over and they need to get to grips with the responsibility of adult life - job, relationship and so on, but it's understandable when you realise they just need to let go of their teen dreams and move on.

Two of the main characters have particular trouble with this. Billy Hicks (Rob Lowe) just can't let go of being the college bum, partying all the time and getting into minor scrapes. He has a child and young wife but chooses to ignore this responsibility and mess with other women instead. Jules (Demi Moore) is the poor once little rich girl who's daddy pays no attention to her because he's remarried, so Jules searches for love and attention wherever she can get it. She's also a bit of a drunken drug user most of the time, so she's not really with it. She finds it hard to accept that her daddy isn't paying for her lifestyle anymore and needless to say she ends up in serious financial bother.

That said, the others don't seem to be coping much better. Kirby Keger (Emilio Estevez) can't get over his obsession with former senior Dale Biberman (Andie McDowell) especially after he bumps into her again by accident and claims to still "love" her. Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy) is bitterly cynical about relationships, so much so his close friends even doubt his sexuality when all along he just needs to admit he loves an old friend. Wendy Beamish( Mare Winningham) just thinks of others instead of herself all the time and has a thankless crush on Billy who uses her. The College Couple, Alec (Judd Nelson) and Leslie (Ally Sheedy) have to deal with changes to their relationship after moving in together and realising they didn't really love each other that much at all.

The film follows all the characters through believeable ups and downs, at the same time highlighting how life can quickly change us from the angry or carefree teen to sensible adult with responsibilities - how quickly our innocence is lost in life. Great film for fans of the 1980s "brat pack" movies and not an unenjoyable drama for those who aren't familiar with them. There's also an interesting commentary on this DVD from director Joel Schumacher.