"They're old enough to know better, and young enough not to care!"
Margo, CeCe and Kelly are best girlfriends. With boring nine to five jobs, they take full advantage of the LA nightlife at every opportunity. It begins on an average day; pretty Kelly (Virginia Madsen) is busy at work in the pet store - the guys outside more interested in her than the kittens in the window. Glamorous Margo (Daphne Zuniga), bored to death with her less-than-glamorous occupancy as a telephone salesgirl. And finally, the carefree CeCe (Cynthia Gibb), having a blast as a department-store worker, making-over customers in the beauty section - until her boss sacks her for transforming a middle-aged customer into an unsightly and brightly coloured punk!
When work hours are over and the sun goes down, the girls return to their apartment, and after a quick power-nap, are getting ready for a night on the town. Kelly, ditching Margo and CeCe, decides to take the car and whiz over to a club where her kinda-boyfriend-kinda-not - DJ, local legend, and asshole, Brad - is playing a set. There's soon a knock on the door from Kelly's so-called date, Clifford (Clayton Rohner). Margo glances out of the window, noticing Clifford's convertible and, realising her and CeCe have no car for the evening, invite him in. He asks after Kelly, with Margo replying; "didn't you know? We're meeting her later".
Clifford - CeCe soon nicknaming him Cliffy - doesn't seem too pleased about being roped into giving the girls a lift, but, believing he still has a date with Kelly, goes along with it. Turning up at a club, the girls and Cliffy approach Kelly who is across the room, all over her DJ kinda-boyfriend kinda-not. Cliffy is gutted, but Margo convinces him to cheer up and forget about it. Margo, Cliffy and CeCe dance & drink the night away, unaware that asshole Brad has done his usual stunt and rejected Kelly, leaving her alone and miserable. All of a sudden, the club begins to buzz and CeCe is ecstatic when the chart-topping rock star Bruno X (Clayton Rohner.. yup, he plays duel roles!) appears. Attempting to grab his attention but with no avail, she literally throws herself on him.. BOOM! Love at first sight. The club then gets raided and everyone scarpers, Cece and Margo following Cliffy back out to his car. After a heck of negotiation, the three go on a hunt for Bruno X, failing miserably on first attempt and almost getting shot off the road by terrorists!
Gasping for another drink, they wind up in a club full of goths - not the happiest of environments! Suddenly CeCe's brain clicks, finding a pack of matches with the name and number of a hotel on - the matches Bruno had given her earlier on! In another bid to track down CeCe's apparent true love, Cliffy poses as Bruno in order to call the hotel and listen to his messages. Succeeding, they rush downtown to the location of his video shoot, hoping to find the rock superstar.. but he is nowhere to be seen. Quickly switching their priorities, the gang of three start to worry about Kelly and, rather than wasting more of their time searching for Bruno, drive off to find her.
Arriving just in time to rescue Kelly from a sticky situation involving ecstasy and a pool table, they bundle into the car. Putting two and two together, they come up with and idea that CeCe won't let go of, in the hope that it'll lead her to Bruno X. Turning up at an exclusive club where they believe Bruno might be hanging out, they swindle their way in with Cliffy being passed off as a cool Bruno X lookalike. Again, their search seems to be getting them nowhere, and CeCe's patience is running thin. When all seems lost - by a stroke of luck - she runs into a guy who seems to have just the information she wants about the whereabouts of the love of her life. Just when she thinks the guy of her dreams is within her grasp, Kelly disappears, whisked away by a guy she'd met earlier that evening. Cliffy and the girls start to worry about her and another mad chase ensues, leading to all four being held up in the police station.
Tired, weary and out of luck, Cliffy, Margo, CeCe and Kelly have just about had enough for the night. But CeCe won't give in that easily and, knowing Bruno X might be closer than they think, they give it one last go at finding the MTV star.
VERDICT: ★★★ ½
Granted, Modern Girls doesn't have the greatest plot, and to some may feel a little pointless at the end of the hour and twenty minutes. But, you will honestly not find a more '80s movie anywhere, ever. You've got LA nightlife, you've got clubkids and their outrageous outfits, you've got a bunch of girls living in just about the most trendily decorated and furnished apartment of 1986, you've got one of the most well-assembled soundtracks of the decade, you've got essential '80s stars.. The list could go on and on and on. Every single aspect of the movie is something that, today, wouldn't be seen anywhere. And for that, Modern Girls deserves to be bought a drink.
If you can't appreciate this movie for what it is, for the fact that it carries you right back to the neon-lit decade of synth-pop and flame-coloured eyeshadow, then you really shouldn't bother with '80s movies at all. You gotta dust your tape machine off for this one too, still out of print and unlikely to be released on any shiny little disks anytime soon. But, once the credits roll and you press rewind, the whirring in your ears of those reels winding themselves backwards just adds to the once contemporary, now wickedly outdated (and all the better for it!) experience of Modern Girls.
You'd be silly not to check out the treasure trove of a site dedicated to this movie, moderngirlsmovie.com. How cool is that?!
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SOUNDTRACK:
The Modern Girls soundtrack is a great mix of new-wave and synth-pop tunes, and usually you'll find more than one LP/cassette up on ebay for less than the price of a hamburger. A great soundtrack, standout tune being But Not Tonight by Depeche Mode - then again, each and every song fits perfectly with the accompanying scenes, for example Weak in the Presence of Beauty which plays during CeCe & Bruno's first kiss.
1. But Not Tonight - Depeche Mode
2. How Many Lovers - Anthony & the Camp
3. Weak in the Presence of Beauty - Floy Joy
4. Girl Pulled a Dog - Femal Body Inspectors
5. Girls Night Out - Toni Basil
6. Concentration Breakdown - George Black
7. Jealousy - Club Nouveau
8. No Promises - Icehouse
9. One Way Love - TKA
10. Some Candy Talking - The Jesus and Mary Chain
The soundtrack is excellent, but is unfortunately incomplete, with many songs featured in the movie now near-impossible to get your hands on. Modern Girls lovers are often on the lookout for tracks performed by the voice behind Bruno X, Scott Rogness, however they seem to have faded into total obscurity - much to the disappointment of Bruno X fangirls (including myself).
