Some Kind of Fabulous

I'm at Video Ezy in Marrickville and it's my second video shop of the day and my last chance to find a little-known film from 1988 that changed my life. Satisfaction was about a girl band who spent one long summer living at the beach and playing their music in a bar at night. I don't remember much about it, except that I loved it and I wanted to be one of those girls. Me and a group of friends were so inspired we decided to start our own band. We got as far as naming ourselves - The Fact (right on!) - and having a slumber party to discuss who would play what instrument. But with one classical pianist (me) and not much else between us, a pop band was a bit of a stretch. We did all master the art of blowing rhythmically across the top of a bottle as demonstrated in the Iko Iko scene, but that can only get you so far in the music world. Oh, the songs, the songs - Mr Big Stuff, Dedicated to the One I Love, C'mon Everybody - just glancing through the list on imdb.com now takes me right back to my 13-year-old self. I wanted to be Justine Bateman. I wanted Liam Neeson to sweep me off my feet. I wanted to be friends with that other chick - hey, that's Julia Roberts before she was famous!

Anyway, Satisfaction doesn't seem to have made the transition to DVD so I better pick something else. I'm purposely ignoring the new releases in case I'm tempted to go off task and watch one of the zillion films I've missed recently instead. Hello, Precious. Oh, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I promise I'll have time for you soon. And there it is - Some Kind of Wonderful. In my rusty old memory, it's blurring together with all the other John Hughes films that filled the weekends of my teen years. I've got Strictly Ballroom in my hand. There's Ferris Bueller. St Elmo's Fire? Stand By Me? Pump Up the Volume? No, the only one I haven't rewatched since I was a kid is Some Kind of Wonderful, and in this moment I know I have to see it again.

I had a crush on Eric Stolz and I think I probably had one on Mary Stuart Masterson too. She could pull off short hair in a way I never quite managed to, but not for want of trying - God, I had some bad hair in the '80s. They play Keith and Watts, high school odd-bods and best buddies, even though she, a tomboy, secretly loves him, an artist. She stoically helps him in his quest to date the popular chick, Amanda Jones (who curiously has the same wavy red hair as him - they could be brother and sister). Of course, he gets the girl and then, of course, realises he really wanted Watts all along. Oh, that final scene at night after the jock guy's party, the rain on the road a metaphor for the tears on Watts's cheeks as she walks away with her broken heart, only to hear him calling her - "Watts! Watts!" - and she turns and he smiles and they kiss and she ends up with the diamond earrings he spent his college money on. Some kind of bloody cheesy brilliant.