Heh. I am going to be very disappointed if that isn't the title of Demi Moore's forthcoming memoirs. I'm just saying.
Some context for those too young to have seen Demi's 80s breakthrough, released twenty-five years ago on this very day. Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire is a story about a group of college grads who are struggling through their quarter-century life crises together. Jules (Demi Moore) is the messiest (and most fabulous) of them all. In the middle of the night she calls her most responsible friend in a panic. "I'm with these Arabs and they've been forcing me to do coke all night. I'm not sure because I don't understand much Arabic but I think I heard the word gangbang. You've gotta come and get me!" He rushes to her rescue only to find a tame unthreatening party. She refuses to leave with him and starts making booty calls instead. He tries to reason with her, until she lobs that delicious dismissal his way."And waste all this good coke?"
I have loved Demi Moore ever since. Which was not always a wise life choice, but what can you do? We love the actresses we love.
Because I can't quit there -- this movie is so addictive -- a Monday Monologue from the same film.
Uptight Leslie (Ally Sheedy) and Frumpy Wendy (Mare Winningham) have convinced Wild Jules to eat lunch at the soup kitchen where Wendy volunteers. This is not, shall we say, Jules' natural environment. It turns out her girlfriend's have an intervention in mind. They're worried about her obsession with her stepmother and her crazy-making sexual dalliances.
"Moi?" Jules asks, caught off guard. After a quick silent beat with a flash of 'how to navigate this?' worry on her face, Demi unleashes Jule's defensive fabulousity posturing.
Forrester? Come on, he's wonderful.Forrest is her married boss. But she's got it all figured out.
This is the 80s. Bop him for a few years. Get his job when he gets his hand caught in the vault. Become a legend. Do a Black Mink ad. Get caught in a sex scandal. Retire in massive disgrace. Write a huge best seller and become the fabulous host of my own talk show.
"Well, it was silly of us to worry," Wendy says in disbelief and the kind of snark-free sarcasm only found prior to the late Nineties.It really is. He's helped me so much. He's come up with so many alternatives for my stepmonster's funeral.
It turns out cremation is just as expensive as the non torch method and if I don't come up with a cheaper solution, I'm going to end up a bag lady...
Of course I'll have alligator bags.
A head toss, the laugh of the self-amused and then a look at the time get me the hell out of here avoidance of the real issues she's just been so flippant about.
And she's outta there... and every time she's outta there the movie deflates a little. Demi's comedic skills are underrated and paired with that famously husky voice and needy screen energy, she turns out to be the perfect match for this charismatic trainwreck.
A parting shot just to underline Jules' trying-too-hard fabulousity -- this is her apartment.
Art Direction by William Sandell / Set Decoration by Robert Gould & Charles GraffeoNaturally she's wild about her decorator "Gay became very chic in the Seventies!"
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13 comments:
Ashton was 7. Just sayin.
Great write-up. We loved it too! http://fashionableearth.org/blog/2010/06/28/st-elmos-fire/
How do you pronounce her name? Is it the fancy Demi, or the Demi as in Demi Lovato?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF1vmESckBY
Here's a video of Tilda's Flash Mob in Edinburgh
Alex -- lol.
michael -- it's the fancy demi
When are you going to do a write-up about why Hollywood hates her? Did you know she wasn’t on the original poster for A Few Good Men? It was her agent and I’m certain her bitching that led to the current compromise. I think she may be the rare exception to the rule – but she’s the only female co-star of Jack Nicholson not to receive a nomination along side him?
@/3rtfu11: Are we not counting the snubbed Golden Globe winner Kathleen Turner because Anjelica Huston won for Prizzi's Honor?
Also, it doesn't surprise me she wasn't on the original poster for A Few Good Men. She's not exactly the superstar that Nicholson is or Cruise was (and, to some extent, still is).
Yeah, and on the Jack Nicholson rule, no ladies from The Last Detail or Easy Rider were nominated either, so Demi can rest easy with... well... Carol Kane, in her illustrious role as "Young Whore" in the former.
It's the second day in the row that for some reasons we remember Joel Schumacher...and why should be surprised? the guy hasn't made just A TIME TO KILL, BATMAN & ROBIN or THE NUMBER 23
btw imdb.com on Schumacher's page doesn't list anymore neither CROWDED ROOM (that it's still in development) nor Monica Bellucci's starrer CENTRICITY...instead we have the already infamous TRESPASS with the magnificent couple Kidman-Cage and two remakes: ChristianPANDORUMAlvart's ANTIBODIES and Johnnie To's as usual brilliant BREAKING NEWS
Alex I ended it with a question mark. I just knew someone else would do the sleuthing.
ewww. he's remaking Antibodies? That movie is SO gross. I couldn't get through it. (every once in awhile i try to watch horror or grotesque things just to see if I'm less wussy than i used to be. But no...)
Loved Demi in the 80s-- especially in the under-rated About Last Night, where she was funny, vulnerable, and sexy (though not necessarily in that order.) There's also the bonus of lots of naked time with Rob Lowe.
St. Elmo's is entertaining, although most of the characters would drive me up the wall if I knew them in real life.
One of the big problems w/ Demi Moore, she tries too hard with her acting. She is not a trained actress- and it always shows. Acting should always feel natural - not forced . Moore was decent in some of her films- her best performance was probably in "A Few Good Men".
What hurt Demi were her lousy film roles . Instead of her placing a heavy emphasis on her good looks & trying to be the highest paid actress in Hollywood (competing w/ Julia Roberts), - she should have focused on her acting craft. Also, so many female moviegoers are so turned off by her because they know she has had many plastic surgery procedures- Demi refuses to come clean about the plastic work on her body. Granted, many women maybe jealous of her looks & young husband.
P.S., hopefully she will be more honest about her facial & body work in her upcoming autobiography,
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