Let us not forget, in addition to vanity, there was plenty of DeBarge on the soundtrack. This was actually the first DVD I bought after getting a player, because I thought it was hilarious when I was 15. Needless to say, it didn’t hold up. At all.
Labyrinth. Another David Bowie (big hair & spandex) vehicle, this time with jailbait Jennifer Conelly in the lead. I don’t think she wears leg warmers, but she has 80’s high-waist jeans with a big mens’ dress shirt-type top. There are a couple music videos in it, most of the cast is muppets. Ends with her realizing that she had the magic power all along, or something equally sappy. I don’t know what Bowie stuffed his spandex with either, but it shouldn’t have been in a children’s movie.
Short Circuit. Another Steve Gutenberg vehicle. A military robot gets struck by lightning & gets amnesia. Meets pretty girl, wackiness ensues. I won’t waste any more synaptic space remembering this piece of fluff. This kind of shit gives us decent peaceniks a bad name.
I was going to mention that in the OP, and forgot.
But I think it was bad on a level that transcends any one decade. What makes it particulary 80s-worthy is the use of brat packers, commies, and Lea Thompson.
It was that movie that made me realize that Alli Sheedy was not, in fact, a brilliant actress who made wise career moves.
The Breakfast Club lied to us, man!
You must be confused, Labyrinth is awesome. Dance magic dance!
I believe it was by Bauhaus. Nick Cave is still going strong.
I mercifully don’t remember much of it but I suspect the movie Valley Girl would fulfill a lot of the OP’s requirements.
I get to be the first one to say Megaforce? It’s about a secret paramilitary group with lasers and flying motorcycles that overthrows middle eastern governments.
And they’re the good guys.
There was a fairly big marketing push when the film was coming out. Needless to say it was a major bomb.
Against All Odds: Rachel Ward in that perm and trashy rich girl attire. Jeff Bridges in the button down shirt and light trousers bought from the same store that half the leading men in 80’s films seemed compelled to go shopping in. It had smarmy lawyers and cocaine in the bathroom, and evil yuppies harming the environment. It featured the glitzy 80’s style nightclub complete with that stupid fucking gig by King Creole and the Coconuts, and to top it all off, Phil Collins sang the title song. I bought that DVD in the bargain bin at the supermarket, and I’m still pissed at myself.
Y’all are forgettining Cocktail. Our hero is a smug bartender for whooping yuppies! And he tosses bottles behind his back! And he’s mentored by an older, wiser bottletosser! He learns valuable life lessons! And he gets the girl! And - um, well, that’s it, really. Flashy, vacuous, and shallow as a birdbath: makes Police Academy look likeThe Cherry Orchard.
Of course, no mention of trashy 80’s bar movies would be complete without the Filmed In Glorious Mullet-O-Vision epic that was Road House. Bonus 80’s points for Patrick Swayze!
How could they not have cast Rodney Dangerfield to do Howard’s voice?!
Hey, they made a sequal, so someone must have liked it! And Roadhouse has a commentary by Kevin Smith!
I nominate Killer Klowns from Outer Space. It was very bad not good! Also Goonies, which I never really liked.
Meatballs II
Caddyshack 2
This is what I came to say. There’s no movie there. It’s just Jason Bateman being pretty and some random clips of stuff.
I don’t know if Get Crazy fits here – it’s B comedy, so maybe that’s not fair.
It’s “bad,” but not pretentious.
Big hair? Check. Pop stars cast? Check. (Lou Reed, no less.) It uses the quintessential 80s plot.
Notably, Malcolm MacDowell plays a lampoon of Mick Jagger, pegged as a pathetic oldy clinging to a rock-n-roll lifestyle. (Who would have guessed that Mick hadn’t yet reached the midway point of his career?)
Although it has over-the-top cheese elements, it’s so bad it’s good in some ways. (In 1991 I had a custom-made “Electric Larry” t-shirt as a gift, which I wore with pride. It made sense at the time.)
One thing for sure: Get Crazy is about the 80sist movie ever made.
…missed the edit window:
Electric Larry - Eightieslicious.
36 posts and no mention of Desperately Seeking Susan?
That is correct, although Bauhaus just released an album also.
I was going to mention that except it kicks ass.
No mention of St Elmo’s Fire?
Oh…Zebra mentioned it in the second post.
For me St Elmo’s Fire gets a pass because some of it was filmed at the University of Maryland right before I got there. I can still look at the movie and say, “I remember that Frat! Look, its the chapel!” It was supposed to be Georgetown but Georgetown would not let them film there.