Reach the Rock . Newcity Chicago . 10-19-98

Reach the Rock

DIRECTED BY: John Hughes

REVIEWED: 10-19-98

This film's a cry for help if there ever was one. The old John Hughes films made rebel heroes out of high school kids, with the ring of their slang and their kinesis (even the most desperate of them were never torpid, like they are in real life). Best of all, they always showed up well-meaning authority figures as utterly naive, illustrating the injustice of having to be subordinate to people who clearly aren't as clever as you. "Reach the Rock," takes place on a single night when rebel Robin, now out of high school, sneaks in and out of jail to break windows and piss off a couple of dim, small town cops of the "You think you're real smart, dontcha kid?" variety. When they haul him in the first time, the chief takes a look at Robby's middle finger and tells him it looks withered because "it's been four years since you've had a teacher to flip it to." Things clearly aren't okay at home and one can't help but want to get inside Hughes' head: is it the frustration of having once been so hot in the high school arena, only to falter in the real world? The futility of sticking around, figuring maybe it's the only thing you know how to do? High school power hinges a lot on "If only," all that potential energy bouncing off the walls, manifesting itself mostly as a reaction to all that you can't do. But remove the walls finally and the energy disperses and gets absorbed. It's not so special any more. None of Hughes' trademark dialogue is here, lines which gave birth to a decade of slacker-talk movies, all of which articulate post-school futility much better.

--Ellen Fox

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