Secret Admirer (1985)

Excellent but underrated film

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The acting in this movie is really good.

You really have to laugh at this movie, it really gives you the twist from the fault of Toni's love letter to Michael. I honestly didn't expect the parents would get involved in this too. Their reactions were just hilarious and absolutely crazy! They really acted so stupid that I didn't know how long they found out that the letter was not address to either of them! I couldn't believe Michael didn't know it was Toni all along. I mean, her body language was so obvious even I knew well from the start that it was her all along! Lori Loughlin is such a babe like what guy in the world wouldn't take her on?? If you feel like you really want to laugh, watch this film!

Secret Admirer along with Can't Buy Me Love are two of the most underrated 80s movies I've seen. It is rated R so it is realistic with how teenagers act/talk (sex, partial nudity, f-bombs, drinking, etc.) but it still has heart. C. Thomas Howell is extremely likeable as the lead as is Lori Loughlin (Jesse's wife in Full House) as his female friend. Kelly Preston (John Travolta's real-life wife) is annoying but extremely hot (hooray for boobies!). Scott McGinnis plays the typical bad guy well, I laugh when he runs after the van after the guys crash the frat party (watch that mullet swing!). The movie is extremely funny is subtle ways that many will not understand because it is above the bodily fluids humor in teen movies today. It also has a strong 80s supporting cast including Corey Haim as Howell's younger brother, Dee Wallace-Stone as his mom (also the mom in E.T.), Fred Ward as Preston's Dad (Tremors, Remo Williams), and Courtney Gains as Howell's friend who is also in my other underrated 80s movie, Can't Buy Me Love.In my top 5 80s movies and I've seen a lot, 10 out of 10!

High school student Michael Ryan gets a letter from a secret admirer who he believes to be Debbie, a beautiful but shallow girl who only dates college guys. He goes to a fraternity party to find out if she is indeed the one, but that does not work out too well. For one thing, Debbie's boyfriend Steve still wants her even though she is tired of him. So Michael goes to his attractive and intelligent friend Toni, who is also a friend of Debbie's, to find out what to do. Michael starts writing anonymous letters of his own to Debbie (who is not identified), but the letters wind up in the wrong hands, with hilarious results. The letters that make it to Debbie, of course, are not Michael's because Toni doesn't think they are good enough and she makes changes. This is strange because it is clear throughout the entire movie that Toni and Michael belong together, so if Toni wanted Michael, all she would have to do would be to deliver the terrible letters to Debbie, who supposedly wouldn't want Michael after reading them. There is some, but not a lot of physical comedy in this movie. Some of it results from confusion about who is in love with whom, and jealousy on the part of husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. There is also a scene where a former girlfriend has found out her boyfriend bragged, and she gets revenge. You wouldn't expect this particular girl to be violent. I didn't see any great acting performances, though I liked Toni, and Kelly Preston sometimes came across quite well as the self-centered Debbie. Overall, I enjoyed it.

I watched this film for the first time when it was released, back in the 80s. Now, more than 15 years later, I've watched it again. My curiosity was high, because I remember I enjoyed it when I was a teenager, and now I wished to check how this movie has been affected by time.First of all, this film suffers the typical "teen style" which can also be seen in other titles from the 80s. This is perhaps the worst point in the movie, because the plot has interesting points, but the film style makes it seemingly look as yet another "Porky's"-like movie. In my opinion, this plot (based on a lost love letter) should have been more elaborate, and the movie should have been made with a higher quality style (for example, closer to "Never been kissed" rather than "Porky's").Anyway, the movie is enjoyable if you can forgive this "teen style".Moreover, it has valuable virtues: It exalts honesty and humbleness, and despite its seemingly "Porky's"-like sexual freedom, it exalts marriage and fidelity, and even chastity. It's quite refreshing to see all this in a film.I voted it as a 5 in 1-10 scale, because I consider it as a "satisfactory movie", with a draw between the weak teen style and some good points (charming love letter plot and exaltation of virtues which are mostly forgotten by Hollywood nowadays).Anyway, this film makes me feel a bit nostalgic (I've kind memories from the time when I first watched it), so my opinion is perhaps not as objective as it should be.