The high school reunion comedy Take Me Home Tonight really wants you to know it takes place in the 80s, as it makes a point to use a few dated catchphrases and has a soundtrack that has most certainly been sold as a Pure 80s mix once or twice, and yet nothing about the story or the experience is unique to the era it’s set in. Take Me Home Tonight has a very generic story about a guy uncertain of his own ambitions who finally musters up the courage to go after his high school crush, the fact that it’s set in the 80s has little to no bearing on the plot. In the end, its four stars Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Teresa Palmer, and Dan Fogler work as the main draw, but you can’t help but feel that the whole affair is half-baked.
Typically, a great career in math or science awaits an MIT grad, but Matt (Grace) can’t decide what he wants to do with his life and so takes a job at a video rental store where he has a chance encounter with Tori (Palmer), the quintessential popular girl from high school that Matt always had a crush on, whom he lies to and tells her she’s a banker with Goldman Sachs. She mentions she’s going to the party hosted by the boyfriend (Chris Pratt) of Matt’s sister, Wendy (Faris), indecisive in whether or not she wants to go to grad school in England. And so the night’s plan is set. Matt, Wendy, and Barry (Fogler), Matt’s friend who opted out of college in favor of working at a car dealership, arrive at the party and Matt finally takes his chance to tell Tori how he felt all those years ago.
Take Me Home Tonight has just enough comedy going for it that’s it not to be totally ignored, but framing it in the 80s was a major misstep and more of an excuse for a few ridiculous hairstyles, dresses and an 80s soundtrack than it was an essential part of the story. Topher Grace’s self-deprecating style has been his strength since his days on That 70s Show and it carries over to his character here, and for that the film both benefits and suffers. Grace nails most of his punchlines and awkward moments, but if you’ve seen him in anything else, you can’t help but feel that you’ve seen him play this exact part before. Palmer looks gorgeous, there’s no denying it, but her comedic timing needs a little work with a few of her lines falling flat. Anna Faris and Chris Pratt play well off one another as the disgustingly in sync couple that tells the same jokes, rehearsed to perfection, to each group of friends they have. It’s Dan Fogler, however, who tends to steal the show as the rowdy, loudmouth finally realizing how much he regrets the path he chose and letting loose with a night of booze, cocaine, and dancing. While the story is fun and easy to watch, there’s not much setting it apart from your basic young adult, quarter-life crisis type of film, and the attempt to shove it into an 80s context only makes it worse.
The special effects for Take Me Home Tonight may be non-existent, but lots of brightly colored suits and dresses and some disco lights make for a fairly good visual presentation, but by no means is Take Me Home Tonight a Blu-ray necessity. The sound is strong and unfortunately the 80s soundtrack is one of the highlights of the film, making it hard to tell whether or not the film gets by on its own merit or because of the positive memories you associate with the soundtrack.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The Blu-ray combo pack offers the film both on Blu-ray disc and as a digital copy, and obviously all the extras are on the Blu-ray. The featurettes include a get together with the cast which has a few funny moments but will be ultimately forgettable unless you’re a huge fan of the movie, some deleted scenes, and the music video for the 80s hit “Take Me Home Tonight”. And that’s where this gets puzzling. While I realize this is probably a licensing issue, the final feature on the disc is “Music Boom Box” which has pretty much all the 80s hits which comprise the film’s soundtrack but only as music. Putting only the music tracks and not including the music videos for each seems like a waste of the Blu-ray’s potential and would be more befitting a plain old DVD. This was a missed opportunity.
"Take Me Home Tonight" is on sale July 19, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy. Directed by Michael Dowse. Written by Jackie Filgo, Jeff Filgo. Starring Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Dan Fogler, Teresa Palmer, Topher Grace.
