It seems each generation looks back at their tender years as "simpler" times. Even when I was a kid, unjaded and not-yet-broken by the world, my parents and grandparents always spoke highly of how much better humanity was in their younger eras. Meanwhile, they were all convinced the world had gone to Hell. Funny, then, that I should look at my tender years (approximately 1976 - 1994 before reality truly set in) and think the same way. So I have to then pose the question: Is every generation naive to an extent? Better yet, at what age does a child/teenager truly come of age?
Based on the slew of 1980s teen films addressing the subject, Gen X hit puberty full-force around age 15. Loves gained and lost, dreams realized, hormones in full-force. However, while the bulk of these adventures had some gimmick which generally focused on the males attempts to get laid, 1980's LITTLE DARLINGS focused on the girls' point of view, with so much more to consider what it was truly like to be in a woman's body, yet still have the heart of a girl. Sexuality, friendship, first love, turbulent homes, classicism, jealousy, and, yes, at its center: loss of virginity.
Teen queens Kristy McNichol (as burn out "Angel") and Tatum O'Neal (as rich & prissy "Ferris") are polar opposites in social status and instantly dislike each other when they're forced to bunk together at summer camp. Each, however, have one major similarity: both are virgins. Trying to win friendship among their peers (including 12 year old Cynthia Nixon from SEX &THE CITY, Matt Dillon in his first film role, and the late Alexa Kenin from PRETTY IN PINK), each girl agrees to get her cherry popped before summer's end. The winner gets a bunch of cash and a lifetime of regret, while the other will be shunned, because - as the other girls proclaim - everyone else has already done "it."
Now, while this description would make it seem like any other cheap excuse for girls to pop their tops and sexual hi jinks to ensue, LITTLE DARLINGS (written with great sensitivity by Kimi Peck and Dalene Young) is a true drama at heart. Each girl, for better or worse, learns romance doesn't work like the novels tell you it does, that they have A LOT more growing up to do, and that simply having sex does not make you an adult. The movie hits it home - without shoving it down your throat - that there is no definitive line between holding onto your innocence and giving yourself over to the world. It's a process of good and bad experiences, mistakes and revelations. Being a teen can be truly scary, but it can also be the time when those last fleeting days of innocence allows you to enjoy the simplicity of food fights and midnight chats with your girlfriends.
While all of the girls are charming and display a specific personality (the hippie, the bookworm, the bitch, the fat girl, the nerd, the child wanting desperately to be a teen), O'Neal and especially McNichol easily steal the show. O'Neal is virgin white as a spoiled rich girl who knows how to dress and speak like a true romantic, when we learn she really knows nothing about sex or relationships. McNichol, on the other hand, has the heavier role. She masters her portrayal of a tough street girl from a bad neighborhood whose tough exterior melts away to expose a scared little darling not ready for what's been put in her lap.
A few late 70s touches (one scene resembles a "mom, have you ever felt...unfresh?" commercial, while another has teen girls dressed up as cutsie animals and singing lame songs which aren't age appropriate) may make 2010 teens giggle... or yawn. Yet overall this charming, if occasionally naughty, flick does an excellent job telling girls how serious - and not necessarily positive - having sex can be, without trying to scare them. It may even evoke a tear or two...
FOOTNOTE: A remake has just been announced for 2011.
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