Baby It's You (1983)

Crappy film

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I tried to like this movie, because I generally love John Sayles' films, but it was painful to watch. The characters were uninteresting, the dialogue seemed disjointed. Sheik was an arrogant boor who gave no reason for the audience to be empathetic. Jill had very little personality, and the film never really established why she would be so attracted to Sheik. Jill was bored with everyone except Sheik, and I was bored with Jill.The only reason I watched it through the end was to see Michael E. Knight in a pre-All My Children role. Unfortunately, it was a short appearance.If you want a better representation of John Sayles' talent as a director, try Matewan, Sunshine State, Lone Star, City of Hope, or The Return of the Seacaucus 7.

I saw this when I had just graduated college, and it was my first John Sayles movie. Along with "Return of the Secaucus 7", this was Sayles at his peak powers. Incredible dialogue. That was how I remembered high school, and that was how we spoke in high school. And I guess because I graduated college that year, I picked up on the theme of graduation, and having to move on in your life. One of the last scenes between Spano and Arquette was achingly real as they both seem lost trying to adjust to a new life in unfamiliar surroundings. When Spano tries to say, "In high school...", and Arquette cuts him off with tears in her eyes and screams, "we're not in high school, anymore", well, that's something I never forgot, as I'm playing that back for you now."The Big Chill" was good, but this was the best film of 1983.

Unlike other viewers, I didn't really connect with this on any major level. And I don't think their longing for each other was anything more than adolescent infatuation (hey, we've all been there!), made all the more desperate by separation anxiety. A couple of 18-year-olds struggling to find themselves in the world. OK as a romantic comedy drama, but no great shakes. Performances were all solid. Interesting to see Matthew Modine pop up briefly as the college boyfriend. And it looked great -- nice and moody -- seemed like something out of the 1960s. One thing bothered me: The use of Bruce Springsteen songs from the 1970s in a movie that was to have taken place in 1967 (not 1965, as another reviewer said -- the signs at Rosanna Arquette's prom clearly said, "Class of 1967"). Anyway, those Springsteen songs from the soundtrack wouldn't have been out yet. But I guess it was done to add a "Jersey feel" to the movie.

I echo the comments of the other review posted here. The movie seems very uneven, and that adds to its lure. The interaction of Spano and Arquette seems all at once real and surreal. Any movie which makes me think of it into the next day, must have significant substance. It is rare to consider "uneven" a positive quality to a movie, but somehow this one pulls it off..