A teen's life in this 80's film was full of roller skating, parties and music. We follow Ritchie Wheeler, (Shiloh Fernandez) and his crew of best friends on a journey through life as a kid in the 80's. His group of friends consists of his love interest Michelle Burkham, (Ashley Greene) her brother Clive Burkham (James LeGros) as well as his best friend Kenny Crawford (Taylor Handley). While they all love to party and have fun with each other, everyone seems to know what they want in life except Ritchie. Although Ritchie, Michelle and Kenny are only just starting their life out of college, Clive is the eldest and is not going to be able to keep partying and he needs to start making a living, but has wasted his life away. Secretly, they all look at him as a warning of how they will grow up if they don't get their life together. When Clive dies in a car crash thing start to come together.
This story gives people a glimpse into the life in the 80's: the clothes and cars all reflected this decade. I think that the skating aspect was very intriguing as it is somewhat of a lost art or sport . Roller skates are not usually seen these days and this film showed the beginning of the decline of this style. While teens in the 21st century go to clubs and dance parties, people in the 80's went to the roller rink. They put on music and danced on skates! When the skater scenes were shown I was blown away by all the challenging moves. For Ritchie, Skating was an escape for him and a place that he wanted to hold onto as a reminder of old times, but when Clive dies and the roller rink closed, he is forced out of his old ways and finds new opportunity as he receives his college acceptance letter.
I would give this a 4.5/5 because it was extemely intruiging and entertaining to watch. It wasn't too deep or emotional, but it wasn't too light hearted, but a perfect balance. It was a movie that made me cry, laugh and really think about the message being sent.
