Zärtliche Liebe (1988)

Zärtliche Liebe: Directed by David Anspaugh. With Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Patti D’Arbanville, Ben Stiller. A Cincinnati college student breaks off his engagement to his wealthy fiancée after he falls in love with a backwoods Kentucky girl he meets at a party. She claims to be 20 years old, but he learns that she’s actually just 16 and already married.

“I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out. I was in love with Ringwald at the time as she was(and is still if the laws of physics still apply) about 5 years older than me. I really liked it then, and have been trying to get this on DVD for years.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was afraid that the film wouldnu0026#39;t be as good as I remembered, and it wasnu0026#39;t in the WAY that I remembered, but it was BETTER in ways that I didnu0026#39;t have the experience or maturity to appreciate at the time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile aspects of the film are dated, namely the syrupy, St. Elmou0026#39;s Fire-ish theme song in the opening/closing credits, it held up surprisingly well. The only thing that keeps me from giving this higher marks is the unfortunate 80u0026#39;s gloss that works so well for the John Hughes films, but keeps this one from transcending the rat-pack genre.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf this film were made today, it would never be filmed or sold as a u0026quot;box-officeu0026quot; film, but would rather go through Sundance, IFC, etc., and the style would be more raw, more gritty. By and large though, that just didnu0026#39;t happen with u0026quot;Teen Starsu0026quot; in the 80u0026#39;s, and Iu0026#39;m amazed they got this film made at all! Also, for the people who donu0026#39;t seem to get the u0026quot;Fresh Horsesu0026quot; reference, my take on it is not definitive, but there is a line where Ben Stiller is talking to Matt (McCarthy) and says something to the effect of letting a tired horse go, and getting a u0026quot;fresh horseu0026quot; in reference to dropping Jewel.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt seemed to me that the metaphor was that while the characters all cared about each other, each relationship(u0026quot;horseu0026quot;) had more selfish/cynical motivations behind them. In effect, the relationships were being used to move themselves from one-point to another towards their goals/desires, whether or not they themselves understood or acknowledged them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRingwald uses McCarthy to get out of her marriage, McCarthy uses Ringwald to get out of his engagement, Stiller seems to use his friendship with McCarthy to avoid growing up and getting serious, McCarthy seems to be trying to fulfill an image of himself as a white-knight, though he finds that he doesnu0026#39;t have the character, he also seems to need the superiority he feels over Jewel due to her lack of education and so on….u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately for most(it seems!), the movie required you to do a little thinking, and probably drew the wrong crowd due to its co-stars, who were maybe expecting Pretty in Pink II, or Pretty In Pink u0026quot;for adultsu0026quot;, but I do not agree with that view of the movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf you havenu0026#39;t seen it, give it a shot. Just go in with a blank slate and take it as it comes….”