The ‘quarter life crisis,’ or the period of crippling doubt about ones life choices that many of us have in our mid 20’s is a phenomenon rarely focused on in cinema. Sure, Hollywood loves teen angst of both the John Hughes and Wes Craven variety, and the baby boomers make sure we live their never ending mid-life crisis through Woody Allen and… well anything with Kevin Costner in it. So it’s a treat to see the subject of post-college anxiety broached in the period comedy set in the 80s that is “Take Me Home Tonight.”
I got to sit down with producer/star Topher Grace and costar/bombshell Teresa Palmer a few weeks back. I was running late that day and didn’t have a chance to put on a cheesy 80’s costume the press people were providing and Topher may have been a little perturbed at me for not playing along. Or perhaps I simply felt his nervousness about the film, as he’s been shepherding this movie since long before it wrapped filming in 2007. (It was apparently kept on the shelf because of the copious cocaine use that simply could not be cut out without decimating the film.)
The film is a very solid comedy, reminiscent of Linklaters’ “Dazed and Confused” which Grace references as an inspiration for this project which the two stars seemed very eager to talk about. Poor Teresa Palmer was born in 1986 and so didn’t ‘get’ to live the time period, and I do not feel bad for her at all. As a gen X’er, I do remember the 80s and I certainly don’t miss them, but a nostalgic look back like “Take Me Home Tonight” won’t hurt anyone.
Watch the interview embedded above and you can check out “Take Me Home Tonight” when it hits theaters this Friday, March 4th in theaters everywhere.