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Take Me Home

Big hair, skinny ties, punk, cocaine, white zinfandel, shoulder pads, hedonism... Were the eighties really twenty-five years ago? Sadly, yes. Were they really that ridiculous? Also, yes. Which is undoubtedly what made it such a fun idea to film a comedy set against them. And who better to quarterback the whole thing than Topher Grace, who spent years doing the similarly nostalgic "That '70s Show"? Sad, then, that the end result, "Take Me Home Tonight", is just as superficial and flimsy as the decade itself.

Mr. Grace is the very boring Matt, who has recently graduated from MIT and is now working at Suncoast Video (remember when there were video stores? Ha!). After running into his high school crush (Teresa Palmer) and lying to her about his life (saw that coming), he decides he's finally going to get her number. And what better place to do that than his sister's boyfriend's bash that night, a high school reunion of sorts that's just big enough to ensure that every '80s caricature is represented. So he grabs his out of control sidekick Barry (Dan Fogler), who steals a car with cocaine in the glove compartment, and away they go... with predictably disastrous results.

Filmed four years ago, Topher Grace was technically in his twenties when this was made. He looks way older than that, though, which makes his directionless Matt often seem more pathetic than relateable. Anna Faris is fine as Matt's sister Wendy, the straight man to her gormless boyfriend's antics, but would be better used with a more comedic role. Dan Fogler tries hard to bring comic relief with coke-fueled energy but the only thing memorable about his performance it's a little reminiscent of Chris Farley's SNL days.

The soundtrack does stand out as being awesome, but there's no surprise there, and unfortunately it isn't enough to carry the whole film. Nor is the crazy '80s fashion, with gold lamé dresses, ripped jeans and pastel, popped-collar polo shirts. Or the hair - from the silly perms to teased hair helmets to the odd mohawk, it's enough to make you snicker and thank god that we've all moved past that.

None of it is enough to cover up the hard truth that the whole thing is just a run of the mill coming-of-age comedy that's been done a million times before - "Can't Hardly Wait", anyone? "Superbad"? All variations on the same theme. The difference here is the '80s. And, well, yeah, it's fun enough to make the first twenty minutes interesting, but the novelty quickly wears off, revealing that director Michael Dowse has taken a lot more care with costumes and set decoration than with Jackie and Jeff Filgo's script. Skip the movie, buy the soundtrack and flip through an old yearbook - there are far better ways to get your nostalgia fix.