Can you imagine that? Being locked in a store with Jennifer Connelly, who easily falls in love with you. This seems like everyone's fantasy. Movie magic.

Three scenes make this movie. 1. Skating and then finding the Goons 2. The mechanical Horse 3. The triumphant exit of the limo At under 90 minute it felt short. And more to the point empty. Beyond those three scenes there's nothing else to really see. I'm glad I watched it but it's a hard sell to watch again. It's too shallow to have anything to say. Which is a shame because all the pieces are there for a charming movie that's a bit aged up from say Home Alone and not as overfilled with meaning as The Breakfast Club. It could have hit that nice middle with some sort of recurring them or cohesion between the various scenes. There's places to expand like the conversation about being happy and free vs having means and being trapped. Jim Dodge is interesting in part because in spite of Connelly looking amazing in this film, he seems to see her attractiveness as maybe a third-level priority. His story line as a home based lout and a liar was ripe for the expanding on but the movie just kinda doesn't. Connelly's Josie complains that she's offending people but we never see this. She acts out because she feels trapped and while we don't need to see that per se it would have been nice to see something about her personality that was consistent and interesting. By the time someone knocks on the door tension should have been at it's peak up till then and instead I felt more tension when he glimpsed her on the initial skating scene. The movie just goes from place to place sometimes well sometimes not until the inevitable comes with zero foreshadowing or interesting aspects.

It never ceases to amaze me how a talent such as John Hughes can make so many classic movies and so many stinkers. This movie is bad. Worse, you can see hints of Hughes' previous works. Frank Whalley does his best to channel Anthony Michael Hall, but he can't overcome an absolutely terrible script. I mean, half the movie takes place overnight in Target? The dialog was absolutely painful. Jennifer Connelly is an amazing talent, but at the end of the day there are only two reasons to see this movie (and you could do a google image search if you want to save yourself 90 minutes). follow me at https://IHATEBadMovies.com or facebook IHATEBadMovies

This feels like an extended television episode, like if John Hughes started making a series. Not much depth to the script outside some very basic character dynamics. The drama comes out of nowhere. Two guys just come in to rob the Target store, but they have no set up or real connection to the characters. Home Alone handled this much better. There are a number of (rather pointless) montage scenes, and set to hit songs of the time, which can be enjoyable, but add nothing to the story. I'd say only give this a watch for Jennifer Connolly (mostly for her looks), and if you want to get nostalgic over the time period. It definitely is a time capsule type film.

Not one of Hughes best work, little boring and not funny. Connelly was absolutely gorgeous!