Actuakers
One of my all time favorites.
Listonixio
Fresh and Exciting
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
gavin6942
A free-spirited 15-year-old girl trapped in the body of a 25-year-old woman (Laura Dern) flirts with a dangerous stranger (Treat Williams) in the Northern California suburbs and must prepare herself for the frightening and traumatic consequences.I had moderate expectations for this film. I figured anything from the 1980s, which was a thriller and had Laura Dern could not be awful. But, you know what, it was actually rather disappointing. Other than maybe ten minutes of suspense, it is basically a movie about a teenage girl and her friends hopping and being generally irresponsible. Nothing to see here.In 1985, this might have been something groundbreaking, but today (2017) it comes across as a Lifetime movie of the week. I suppose it is a good film to see for James Taylor fans, but otherwise you're not missing much.
Predrag
Smooth Talk is one of the few films ever made whose climactic scene takes place on the borderline between reality and the imagination. That scene is done so beautifully by Dern and Treat Williams that one never forgets it. But the whole movie is full of wonderful moments. For instance, after her first fight with her mother (and the sparks that fly between Dern and Mary Kay Place every time their eyes meet capture the hormones-versus-hormones explosiveness of adolescence versus middle age marvelously) Dern walks through a fruit orchard. This is Chopra's way of hinting to us that the Garden of Eden, the loss of innocence, lies behind the story. The parents are house-poor, having had enough money to buy the house three years ago but not to decorate it. The inside is a chaos of paint cans, ladders, strips of wallpaper. This mirrors the chaos inside the emotions of the developing girl.There are some awkward scenes in this film version of the famous Joyce Carol Oates story, "Where are you going? Where have you been?", mainly because the original short story was set in the 1950's and the film is set in the 1980's thus the James Dean posters in Connie's room, the fact that Arnold Friend (Treat Williams) is a James Dean look-a-like who drives a muscle car, and that all the high school kids hang out at the local drive-in seem out of place in the 1980's. And yet, even with the anachronisms, as an evocation of a certain time of life it still works. Anyways, the film tells of young fifteen year old Connie who discovers herself at a local burger place. Well, I guess that is over simplifying it a bit. She lives in the shadow of her older, perfect sister and she suffers under the sharp eye of her defeated mother. She feels hated and alone and so this moves her to act out, seeking attention from boys who find her attractive and deem her rather easy. The film moves around at an almost stagnant pace for a while, allowing us to see Connie in various compromising situations without really letting anything happen that sustains our interest. Then all of a sudden this guy who we have seen briefly throughout the film makes his advancements to Connie in a rather strange way and we are supposed to be drawn into her ultimate decision.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
AaronCapenBanner
Joyce Chopra directed this adaptation of the Joyce Carol Oates short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" that stars Laura Dern as teenager Connie Wyatt, who is spending the summer in a cottage somewhere in California, who has grown bored and restless, and spends much of her time at the mall with her friends chasing boys. One day, things take a strange turn when, after Connie is left alone for a day because she doesn't want to go on a family outing, is confronted by a "smooth talking" older man named Arnold Friend(played by Treat Williams) who drives up to her home, and tries to convince Connie to take a ride with him... Good performances(especially by Dern) but film never really goes anywhere, and ends inconclusively.
moonspinner55
Laura Dern is perfect as lanky lass in a small town sparring with her parents, estranged from her older sister, desperate to be liked and to be with boys. Opening moments of this adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been"--with Dern and friends doing the mall--are realistic but nothing too original; second portion of the film, with Laura meeting smooth talking Treat Williams (who comes dressed like the James Dean poster on Dern's wall) is elongated and dry (you can almost feel the director's confidence slipping away). It's an encounter I didn't particularly care for, nor did I buy the rosy ending either. However, there are fine moments in "Smooth Talk", the most devastating of which lies in a conversation between Dern and indifferent sis Elizabeth Berridge (in a terrific performance): Dern recalls a vivid, lovely childhood memory between the two, but after listening and thinking it over, Berridge tells her, "I don't remember..." **1/2 from ****
