''Some Kind of Wonderful'' is a 1987 American romantic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Howard Deutch Howard Deutch (born September 14, 1950) is an American film and television director who worked in collaboration with filmmaker John Hughes, directing two of Hughes's best-known screenplays, ''Pretty in Pink'' and '' Some Kind of Wonderful''. Sinc ...

and starring

Eric Stoltz Eric Cameron Stoltz (born September 30, 1961) is an American actor, director and producer. He played the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film ''Mask'', which earned him the nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Suppor ...

, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Lea Thompson. It is one of several successful teen dramas written by John Hughes in the 1980s.

Plot

The film is set against the strict social hierarchy of an American public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

. Blue-collar mechanic and aspiring artist Keith Nelson is best friends with

tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. W ...

drummer Watts. Keith's father is obsessed with sending him to college for business, as he would be the first in their family to go. Keith is enamored with Amanda Jones, one of the most popular girls in school, and he spends much of his time drawing her. She is dating Hardy Jenns, a spoiled and selfish boy from a wealthy neighborhood. However, Amanda herself is not wealthy: she lives in the same working-class district as Watts and Keith, and she borrows her fashionable clothes from her friends. Hardy treats Amanda as his "property" while also fooling around with another girl. Watts is dismissive of Keith's crush, saying that he and Amanda are too different. Hearing that Amanda will be in detention for the foreseeable future, Keith gets himself in trouble to spend time with her. However, Amanda talks her way out of detention, and he is stuck with the school criminals, eventually making friends with troublemaker Duncan. When Amanda breaks up with Hardy, Keith asks her out. Mainly to spite Hardy, Amanda accepts. Meanwhile, seeing Keith with Amanda makes Watts realize that she loves him as more than just a friend. Watts pretends to like another boy to try and make Keith jealous, and she continues to discourage Keith from being with Amanda, to no avail. Hardy plots trouble for Keith by inviting him and Amanda to a party after their date, where he plans to have Keith beaten up. Through his sister Laura, Keith finds out about the scheme and believes Amanda is a part of it. He decides to go to the party anyway and face Hardy. Amanda's wealthy and popular friends start to shun her for being with Keith, and he tries to plan the perfect date to prove he is worthy of Amanda. With Watts in tow, he uses his college money to buy a pair of diamond earrings. Watts tells him that Amanda will appreciate a good kisser, and she kisses Keith under the guise of teaching him how to do it. Still, Keith is oblivious to Watts' attraction to him. When Keith's father discovers the college fund has been emptied, he is livid, but Keith ultimately convinces his father to respect the right to make his own decisions. On the night of the date, Keith picks up Amanda, with Watts serving as their chauffeur. They go to an expensive restaurant for dinner, however they initially argue. Then, Keith brings Amanda to an art museum and shows her a painting he did of her. He gives her the earrings, and they kiss while Watts watches them from a distance. Finally, they go to Hardy's party. Keith is about to get beaten by Hardy's friends when Duncan and the other school criminals arrive to help him. Hardy tries to talk his way out of the predicament, exposing himself as a coward in front of the party guests. Amused, Keith tells Hardy he is "over," after which Amanda slaps Hardy. After they leave the party, Watts apologizes to Amanda. Watts then leaves them and starts to walk home in tears. Amanda suddenly realizes that Keith and Watts have feelings for each other. She gives the earrings back to Keith and urges him to go after Watts. Keith, realizing that he is in love with his best friend, bids Amanda goodbye. He catches up to Watts, and they kiss. He then gives the earrings to a delighted Watts, who admits that she wanted them. She puts them on and asks Keith how they look, and he replies, "You look good wearing my future."

Cast

as Keith Nelson * Mary Stuart Masterson as Watts * Lea Thompson as Amanda Jones * Craig Sheffer as Hardy Jenns *

John Ashton John Ashton may refer to: Entertainment * John Ashton (composer) (1830–1896), Welsh musician * Will Ashton (John William Ashton, 1881–1963), British-Australian artist and art director * John Rowland Ashton (1917–2008), English author * John A ...

as Cliff Nelson * Elias Koteas as Duncan * Molly Hagan as Shayne * Maddie Corman as Laura Nelson * Jane Elliot as Carol Nelson * Candace Cameron as Cindy Nelson * Chynna Phillips as Mia * Scott Coffey as Ray * Carmine Caridi as Museum Guard *

Lee Garlington Ann Leslie "Lee" Garlington (born July 20, 1953) is an American actress. Early life Garlington was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. She spent her teenage years in Wilmington, Delaware. Career She has guest starred in a number of notable television s ...

as Gym Instructor

Production

Deutch and Hughes were not happy with the ending of their previous collaboration ''

Pretty in Pink ''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. A cult classic, it is commonly identified as a "Brat Pack" film. It was directed by Howard Deutch, produc ...

'' (1986); in the script and the original cut of the film Andy (

Molly Ringwald Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. She was cast in her first major role as Molly in the NBC sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' (1979–80) after a casting director saw her playing an o ...

) wound up with her best friend Duckie ( Jon Cryer). Test audiences disliked that ending, however, so a new ending was shot where Andy wound up with Blane (

Andrew McCarthy Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor, travel writer, and television director. He is most known as a member of the Brat Pack, with roles in 1980s films such as ''St. Elmo's Fire'', ''Pretty in Pink'', and '' Less ...

). With ''Some Kind of Wonderful'', Hughes decided to re-tell the story, but with the genders of the main characters switched. Hughes named the three main protagonists—Keith, Watts, and Amanda Jones—as an inside-joke tribute to

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...

(

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...

, and the Stones' song "Miss Amanda Jones", respectively). Hughes wanted Ringwald to play the female lead role of Watts, but she declined in order to pursue more adult roles; she also thought the character of Amanda seemed too similar to the character she played in ''

The Breakfast Club ''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The ...

''. Hughes took this refusal personally, and it led to the end of Hughes and Ringwald's working relationship. Martha Coolidge was signed to direct ''Some Kind of Wonderful''. Mary Stuart Masterson was cast as Watts. In addition to Masterson, Coolidge cast

as Keith. Coolidge's vision of the film, which was darker than the eventual product, attracted Stoltz to the role. Unhappy with Coolidge, Hughes fired her and hired Deutch to direct. Original cast members Kim Delaney (Amanda Jones) and Kyle MacLachlan (Hardy Jenns) were fired shortly after. Deutch offered Lea Thompson the role of Amanda, but she initially turned him down. However, after the Thompson-starring '' Howard the Duck'' flopped at the box office, she accepted a second offer to take the role. Deutch and Thompson started dating after filming was completed, and they got married in 1989. The film was shot in Los Angeles in the summer of 1986. Locations include San Pedro High School,

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which displ ...

, and the Hollywood Bowl.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating of 76% based on 45 reviews, with the site's consensus: "''Some Kind of Wonderful'' is above-average '80s teen fare for people who need as much John Hughes in their lives as possible." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade A− on a scale of A to F.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' praised the film, calling it worthwhile and entertaining.

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' stated that ''Some Kind of Wonderful'' is the "much-improved, recycled version of the ''

'' story". Richard Schickel of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' criticized the film for being unrealistic. Masterson's performance was singled out for praise by several critics. The film grossed $18.5 million at the box office.

Soundtrack

# "Do Anything" –

Pete Shelley Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist in 1977 wh ...

# " Brilliant Mind" –

Furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...

# "Cry Like This" – Blue Room # " I Go Crazy" – Flesh for Lulu # "She Loves Me" –

Stephen Duffy Stephen Anthony James Duffy (born 30 May 1960 in Alum Rock, Birmingham, England) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was a founding member, vocalist, bassist and then drummer of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo perform ...

# "The Hardest Walk" –

The Jesus and Mary Chain The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid. After signing to independent label Creation Records, they re ...

# "The Shyest Time" –

The Apartments The Apartments are an Australian indie band formed in 1978 in Brisbane, Queensland. The band split up in 1979 but reformed in 1984 and continued until 1997, with a new version of the band forming in 2007. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, th ...

# "Miss Amanda Jones" – The March Violets # " Can't Help Falling in Love" –

Lick the Tins Lick the Tins was an English mid to late 1980s Celtic/folk rock/indie band from London. The name was derived from a nickname given to an old tramp by the children from the hometown of one of the band members, Ronan Heenan. They are best known f ...

# "Turn to the Sky" – The March Violets

Charts

References

External links

* * * * *
''Some Kind of Wonderful'' fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Some Kind Of Wonderful 1987 films 1987 romantic drama films 1980s American films 1980s coming-of-age drama films 1980s English-language films 1980s high school films 1980s teen drama films 1980s teen romance films American coming-of-age drama films American high school films American romantic drama films American teen drama films American teen romance films Coming-of-age romance films Films directed by Howard Deutch Films produced by John Hughes (filmmaker) Films shot in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by John Hughes (filmmaker) Paramount Pictures films