***Working class boy, rich dream girl and faithful tomboy friend in Southern Cal***

Keith (Eric Stoltz) is a high school senior in Los Angeles wherein he fights with his little sister (Maddie Corman) and is pestered by his dad about going to college. He works at a gas station and his best friend is a tomboy, Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson), but he has his eyes set on a dream girl, Amanda (Lea Thompson). Craig Sheffer plays the rich stud nemesis, Hardy.

Writer John Hughes was known for those mid-80’s high school films, like “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink” and “Ferris Bueller's Day Off.” Unsuccessful when it was released in 1987, “Some Kind of Wonderful” ended his foray in the genre and he would go on to popular comedies with John Candy and Chevy Chase.

This movie is interesting in that it includes elements of “Pretty in Pink” (1986) and, indeed, features the ending that was intended for that movie, which the studio forced him to alter. Hughes even wanted Molly Ringwald for the role of Amanda, but she refused and Hughes took it personally, which ended their working relationship.

It’s about on par with “Pretty in Pink,” but I prefer the cast in this one, plus it’s more heartwarming. I’d watch it any day over the overrated “Breakfast Club,” yet it has its issues. For instance, some scenes have the same sense of unreality that marred “Pink” and Stoltz strikes me as too confident, charismatic and good-looking for the role of a guy that is rudely ignored by the popular girls. This would’ve never happened at my school, working class or not.

The movie runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B/B-