Valley Girl Synopsis: Julie, a girl from the valley, meets Randy, a punk from the city. They are from different worlds and find love. Somehow they need to stay together in spite of her trendy, shallow friends.
Bored with her relationship, Julie breaks up with her popular boyfriend, Tommy, despite the protests from her friends. Shortly after, she meets Randy at a school party, but Randy is unlike any of the boys who go to her high school.
He’s from Hollywood and labeled a punk who crashed the party with his friend Fred. After a fight with Tommy, Randy convinces Julie to take a drive with him and Fred, sparking a romance that puts Julie at odds with her friends.
This movie is a Romeo and Juliet-esque (Randy and Julie, get it?) storyâthe pretty, popular blonde… the rebel from the wrong side of the tracks. The people around them do whatever they can to break them up, etc. I always enjoy opposites attract love stories, and Valley Girl definitely fits the bill.
While the plot isn’t exactly anything original, it’s still entertaining. Deborah Foreman and Nicolas Cage have nice chemistry, although I have to admit that Cage was probably the best actor in the entire film, which may be why he’s the only one in the cast who went on to have a pretty big acting career.
It’s an engaging romance, one that’s easy to root for. The only real issue I had with the love story was that Julie’s uncertainty about who she should be with felt very contrived. Tommy is clearly an arrogant jerk, and Julie knows it, but because her friends think Randy is hurting Julie’s popularity, she seriously considers asking Tommy to take her back.
I understand it’s about peer pressure, especially in high school, but Julie clearly likes and wants to be with Randy. Maybe the struggle would have made more sense if Tommy hadn’t been so blatantly the Wrong Guy. Nic Cage is great as the lovesick Randy. Fun, funny, and a bit chaotic, he’s the perfect match for good girl Julie.
An odd subplot in Valley Girl revolves around Julie’s friend Suzi, her mom Beth, and Skip, the boy that Suzi has a crush on and that Beth clearly wants to bang. I have no idea that Beth was the original Stifler’s mom! Her daughter clearly likes this guy… so why is she going all Mrs. Robinson on him? Maybe because Beth looks the same age as the teenagers in the film? I was very, very confused when Suzi introduced Beth as her mother. The subplot was okay but felt slightly out of place with the rest of the film. I would have rather had more Julie and Randy, to be honest.
Valley Girl is really quintessential 80s. The clothes, the hair, the acting, and the music. The dialogue is slightly cringe-y, but you expect that from a comedy from 1983. I’m glad I finally watched this, as I had always heard good things. It’s a seminal 80s viewing, and I can see where it inspired the more modern teen comedies. Give it a watch, especially if you’re a fan of Nic Cage because he’s really freaking cute in this movie.
Watched: 05/24/2022
Notable Song:Â I Melt With You by Modern English
