Though it missed the vanguard of the '80s revival, the mousse-slicked, collar-popped "Take Me Home Tonight" will surely not be the last of its kind. One imagines a wave stretching for years, eventually making the copyright owners to "Come On Eileen" as rich as the guy who wrote "Happy Birthday to You."
(Eddie Money isn't so lucky: Though the movie's title may plant that once-ubiquitous song in your head for a week, you won't actually hear "Take Me Home Tonight" in the film.)
A wave of '80s movies could do a lot worse than this outing, which easily captures the vibe of the comedies that inspired it. Nobody's going to put it on a shelf alongside "Sixteen Candles" or "Better Off Dead," but it's better than a lot of the hopeless-romance fantasies we of a certain age devoured back in the decade of "Miami Vice" jackets.
Topher Grace segues from "That '70s Show" to the following decade as Matt, a fresh M.I.T. grad who moves back in with his parents — and frustrates everyone by taking a job at a video store in the mall.
Matt hides this indignity when he bumps into high-school crush Tori (played by Kristen Stewart lookalike Teresa Palmer), pretending to be a high-powered banker and agreeing to meet her at a party thrown by the frat-boy currently dating Matt's twin sister (Anna Faris, who isn't allowed to be nearly as funny as she can be).
Matt's slovenly buddy Barry (Dan Fogler) helps the charade along by stealing him a Mercedes convertible — the first of a few high-energy misadventures that nicely balance the sweet (if very unlikely) connection that develops between Matt and Tori.
Its soundtrack aside, the movie doesn't lean too hard on dated pop-culture icons for their own sake. Instead of milking nostalgia, it emphasizes the concern that Matt has already let life slip him by. There's a bittersweetness buried under the too-bright costumes and color scheme — a flavor that makes "Take Me Home" relevant not just to viewers the age of its protagonists but to those who, like John Cusack and company in "Hot Tub Time Machine," might sometimes look back and question the paths life took.
This is not to suggest that, in the end, "Take Me Home" lets anyone go home lonely or pessimistic about the direction in which life is pointing them. Youth-oriented comedies have rarely risked that, in the '80s or any other decade.
"Take Me Home Tonight"
Our Grade: B
Genre: Comedy Drama
Running Time: 97 min
MPAA rating: R
Release Date: Mar 4, 2011
