Mischief (1985)

Mischief is a film you've probably never seen and more than likely never heard of, which is better left that way. Seeing the complete pointlessness of this film I'll be brief, in case you happen to be like myself and in search of an entertaining 80's romantic comedy, maybe I can help steer you clear. Mischief is about as clichéd a film as you can possibly get. Shy nerdy Jonathan has the hots for the school's beauty queen, Marilyn McCauley (Kelly Preston), but he doesn't have the guts or the stones to talk to her, let alone ask her out, that is until "rebel without a cause" Gene Harbrough moves in next door and changes his life.

Gene is a greaser, whose father has been forced to uproot them due to Gene's antics, now Gene has to stay out of trouble before his father disowns him, lucky for him he finds a pet project in Jonathan as he promises to help him get the object of his desire, Marilyn. Along the way Gene discovers his own "angel" in Bunny Miller, unfortunately she's spoken for, at least according to her boyfriend the school's famed jock. Gene's quiet new life quickly heats up as his relationship with Bunny doesn't go well with the jock. Meanwhile Gene's knowledge of women manages to successfully help the horny Jonathan in obtaining his desire, but does Marilyn turn out to really be worth the trouble?

At 93 minutes, Mischief is about 33 minutes too long, besides the overload of clichés placed in the film, which this film has about every teen film cliché imaginable, I quickly tired of the shallow characters and repetitive storyline. First, as character you’re supposed to be rooting for I found Jonathan to be quite the loser as his whole point of living appeared to be getting down Marilyn's pants, he epitomizes the word desperate. Second how many times did the writers feel the need to insert a greaser vs. jock scene, which ended exactly the same each time and progressed the film absolutely nowhere. And third, top it all off with an ending that almost made me gag as Jonathan realizes the hot girl wasn't actually worth his time, and he ends up going for the severely retarded girl who becomes a goddess after getting her braces removed! In the end Mischief takes the cake as possibly the worst romantic comedy I have ever seen, sure Kelly Preston is hot, and has a nude scene, but if that's what's driving you to see this film you're more desperate and perverted than Jonathan, there's nothing in this film worth sitting through this mess. The only positive aspect of this film is the music, which is a very nice compilation of 50's hits, but just buy the soundtrack if your interested.

3/10