Secret Admirer [Blu-ray]

Director: David Greenwalt David Greenwalt

Overview

Produced at the height of the teen sex comedy cinema craze in the mid-1980s, Secret Admirer (1985) was the directorial debut of David Greenwalt, who would later move from screwball comedy to horror with the television series The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. C. Thomas Howell stars as Michael Ryan, a high school student who receives an anonymous love note in his locker. Hoping that it's from Deborah Ann Fimple (Kelly Preston), a gorgeous but air-headed classmate who only dates college boys, Michael hatches a scheme with Toni (Lori Loughlin), who is friendly with both him and Deborah, to write her back. What Michael doesn't know, however is that the first letter was really from Toni, who has more than friendship in mind. In the meantime, the unsigned missives fall into the wrong hands, leading Michael's mother, Connie (Dee Wallace-Stone) to believe that her husband George (Cliff De Young) is having an affair with his night school teacher, Elizabeth (Leigh Taylor-Young), who is none other than Deborah's mother. George had better watch his back, however, as Elizabeth's husband is Lieutenant Lou Fimple (Fred Ward), a tough cop who's having a very bad week. As the romantic complications pile up, Toni becomes Michael's Cyrano de Bergerac, penning his letters but pining for him as he gets closer to winning Deborah over.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/07/2023
UPC:	0738329262082
Original Release:	1985
Rating:	R
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:38:00
Sales rank:	15,090

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

C. Thomas Howell	Michael Ryan
Lori Loughlin	Toni
Kelly Preston	Deborah Anne Fimple
Dee Wallace-Stone	Connie Ryan
Fred Ward	Lou Fimple
Leigh Taylor-Young	Elizabeth Fimple
Corey Haim	Jeff
Cliff De Young	George Ryan,Mrs. Henderson
Casey Siemaszko	Roger Despard
Geoffrey Blake	Ricardo
Rodney Pearson	Kirkpatrick
Courtney Gains	Doug
Jeffrey Jay Cohen	Barry
Scott McGinnis	Steve Powers
Michael Menzies	Mr. Simpson
Michael Moore	Leon
John Terlesky	Rick
Keith Mills	Mailman
Janet Carroll	Toni's Mother
Ken Lerner	Waiter
Mike Toto	Toni's Father
Dermott Downs	Ungrateful Teen
Ron Burke	Mr. Henderson
Doug Savant	Boy
Ernie Brown	Guard
Leslie Allan	Girl
Arvid Malnaa	Norwegian Dock Worker
Dee Wallace Stone	Actor

Technical Credits

David Greenwalt	Director
C.O. Erickson	Executive Producer
Allen Hall	Special Effects
Jim Kouf	Producer
Stephen J. Roth	Producer
Patrick Romano	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Secret Admirer has gone down in pop culture history as a textbook example of the 80s teen sex comedy. This is and isn't true: yes, it nominally deals with teenagers and sex, but its concerns are ultimately more romantic than carnal. To the filmmakers' credit, the movie avoids the shameless softcore exploitation of lower-grade vehicles from this era such as Private Lessons, Porky's, Tomboy and Screwballs. Unlike the teens in those pictures, the adolescents in this story learn to distinguish sex from love, and the two main characters eventually make mature and intelligent decisions in terms of the romantic relationship that they choose. As such, this is basically a sweet and gentle movie instead of a lewd one. However, that isn't to suggest that Admirer is in any way a good film, merely a few notches above what we've come to expect. It does suffer from several stock weaknesses of its subgenre, including awful dialogue, brain-dead adult characters, and clichéd story developments that can be called long before they transpire onscreen, such as the hero "racing" across town to win his dream girl before she leaves his life forever. As for the performances, this ensemble is fairly dispiriting; though several talented character players turn up, including Fred Ward, Dee Wallace Stone, and Leigh-Taylor Young, those thesps can't even begin to transcend the dumb-dumb situations that they are forced into. However, lead actress Lori Loughlin does win us over, as Toni, the nice girl who quietly pines for her "best friend" (C. Thomas Howell); she gives an endearing and affecting turn that is a pleasure to watch. In retrospect, it feels rather surprising that the other female lead in this movie - Kelly Preston - achieved success on the big screen while Loughlin never made it as a movie star. Loughlin not only had a more interesting and offbeat physical look than Preston at the time, but a broader dramatic range in a more difficult and muted role.

All Movie Guide - Nathan Southern