Valley Girl (1983) ***

Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl (1983) is essentially a modern (for the time) update of Romeo And Juliet. It's a cute film with an excellent soundtrack but it's not terribly memorable if you didn't grow up with it (this was my first time seeing it). 

Deborah Foreman is pretty and gives a pretty good performance as Julie but her character is definitely lacking (even for a valley girl). Nicolas Cage's Randy is...supposed to be a punk (I guess?; not convincing) and has weird chest hair. This is definitely lesser Cage (he doesn't really ever Rage here) but it's also only his third film role (his first top billing and the first in which his last name was not credited as Coppola). Julie's hippie parents (Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp) are amusing and provide some comic relief. 

The conflicts aren’t well-developed and Michael Bowen isn't a particularly great preppie/villain. Cage also doesn't have on-screen parents to speak of so the R&J theme is never really driven home to full potential. Still, there's a charm to VG, with it’s quotable dialogue ("For sure. Like, totally! To the max.”), and it's a harmless, fun way to waste 100 minutes. The 2020 remake is apparently a musical but I have no real interest in seeing it—looks like more overt 1980s nostalgia, as is the case with too many films these days.

You can find my Cage Rages Ranked list here.