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I like most of the movie, but the whole Jennifer Jason Leigh storyline is fucking depressing.
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I was in my late teens when that movie came out. To be honest, I didn't like the Jennifer Jason Leigh message and the outcome then, or now. Now, even less since I have a teenage daughter today.
On one hand the story is true to life in how young men treat sex so casually and how every boy and some girls are in a hurry to lose their virginity. But the act itself was not what she expected. What, you didn't expect to lose your cherry in a baseball field dugout? But it was true to life how some boys bail after getting what they want, how the guy that knocked her up denied it and didn't even want to pitch in towards an abortion. In the end she was demoralized and regretted what she did. Actions have consequences and the movie made that pretty clear.
Anyway, the whole thing was fucking depressing like you said, but mostly true to life. The fast and easy abortion, no exploration of options, etc., that part I didn't like. They make it out as if abortion is the only choice. That's the feminist agenda rearing its ugly head, as usual.
The rest of it was pretty much like I remembered that era, although "Dazed and Confused" is a better representation of my high school years. Mid-late '70's. The only Mid-late 70's period movie I have seen that got the clothing and hair styles 100% spot on. It was like looking at my class of '76 yearbook. I knew guys that looked exactly like Pink and Wooderson.