Giving us the flipside of the cliché, Robin is in love with Lise whereas she finds him convenient during her hometown visits. It’s not boring, but it’s not as humorous as it could be.ĭonna is an object if there ever was one, but Lise (Brooke Langton, “Melrose Place”) gets serious layers as Robin’s summer girlfriend. He’s trying to make out with Donna (Karen Sillas), “the prettiest girl in town,” during his shift. Even as Robin sneaks out of his cell to do more vandalism, Quinn’s second-in-command, Ernie (a solid Bruce Norris, in a role that would’ve nicely fit Sam Rockwell), is up to antics of his own. Ryan directs “Reach the Rock’s” breezy aspects too stiffly. I think this might’ve been due to budget constraints, and it’s a shame because a well-chosen song might’ve been a clincher for this movie.Įvery David Mamet film, ranked (except ‘The Water Engine’) Hints of thunder play in the background more than tunes. But the score is unusual and simple, sometimes with military-like drums, and the needle drops are sparse and forgettable. Directed by William Ryan, “Reach the Rock” spends money on a strong B-list cast, and it sets an evocative mood of dead-quiet Shermer on a hot summer night before a storm rolls in. It’s tempting to go too far in comparing this to other Hughes works – linking Robin’s middle-of-the-night vandalism to Kevin McCallister’s creative traps, or imagining Robin as a continuation of troubled John Bender – but there’s no denying that “Reach the Rock” could almost translate to a stage play, as could “The Breakfast Club.” The low-budget but engaging “Reach the Rock” is an adult companion piece to “The Breakfast Club” as 20-something troublemaker Robin (Alessandro Nivola, “Jurassic Park III”) gets thrown in the adult version of detention – jail – and squares off with Shermer, Ill., police sergeant Quinn ( “Roswell’s” William Sadler). It’s fair to say that Hughes was more invested in his original work, so it’s a shame there’s not much of that in the back half of his career. “Just Visiting” (2001), an Americanized version of a French hit, is among his worst late-career screenplays. ![]() “Reach the Rock” (1998) is his best late-career screenplay, and it’s not surprising to learn he wrote it about a decade before it got made. ![]() (He also has two story-only credits remaining on his resume, which I’ll get to next week.) John Hughes’ wholly original works tended to be better than his sequels, remakes and adaptations, and the last two films of his screenwriting career sharply illustrate this.
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