1980s weren’t kind to Francis Ford Coppola, one of the grand masters of American and world cinema. That decade, unlike the glory days of 1970s when he had been one of the leaders of New Hollywood, was marked by series of disappointments. One of the few bright spots was Peggy Sue Got Married, 1986 fantasy drama which was successful at the box office and enthusiastically greeted by critics.
Film is named after eponymous 1950s song by Buddy Holly, which plays in the opening title. The plot begins in 1985 when middle-aged Peggy Sue Bodell (played by Kathleen Turner) very reluctantly goes to high school reunion, knowing that she would have answer questions about her husband, successful local entrepreneur Charlie Bodell (played by Nicolas Cage) with whom she is in process of divorcing. After meeting old friends, she gets overwhelmed by emotion and faints only to wake up in 1960 in a body of her 18-year old self, but with her memory and experiences of her future life intact. At first baffled by strange situation, she begins to see it as an opportunity to set things right and evade some mistakes, including relationship with young Charlie that led to early marriage forced by pregnancy. The only person whom she informs about her strange predicament is Robert Norvik (played by Barry Miller), young nerd who became successful technological tycoons and whom she tries to help by telling about future inventions. She also tries to find alternative to Charlie in the form of Michael Fitzsimmons (played by Kevin J. O’Connor), rebellious aspiring poet and school athlete about whom she always fantasised. Despite past experiences and being older and wiser she nevertheless can’t prevent herself from feeling attraction to Charlie, while at the same time she increasingly wants to return to future and her family.
Coppola directed this film as a “hired gun”, replacing two previous directors (Howard Zieff and Penny Marshall) who had left the project during pre-production. Although less personal than his previous films, Peggy Sue Got Married gives a way the steady hand of experienced professional. Film is well-directed, especially in the scenes that reconstruct world of late 1950s and 1960s and employ many period details, props and pop culture references. The script by Jerry Leichtling and Arlene Sarner in many ways follows the 1980s trend of Boomer nostalgia, but adds interesting twist in the form of 1980s protagonist as well as time travel motive that led many to compare it with Back to the Future. Unlike that film, this one doesn’t bother with scientific or mystic explanations for Peggy Sue’s strange journey (one brief shot might suggest that it was just a dream) and instead tries to deal with philosophical and existential questions, as well as emotional implications of someone being able to meet persons who were dead for years. The latter results in moving scenes in which Peggy Sue’s grandparents are played by Classic Hollywood veterans Leon James and Maureen O’Sullivan.
The greatest asset of the film is Kathleen Turner, actress known for her versatility and bravery. Here, at the age of 32, she confidently plays the character both as bitter middle-aged woman and as teenager. Peggy Sue, same as other characters, is not particularly aged, except with the help of makeup. It is Turner’s subtle mannerisms and physicality that successfully present her as teenagers, while at the same time she conveys cynical and experienced woman who inhabits teenage body. Turner did good job and was later received Oscar nomination for her role. The rest of the cast mostly did solid job too, especially in the case of Barry Miller who plays insecure nerd in 1960 and confident tycoon in 1985. Script, however, does play with cliches and the ending, in which Peggy Sue’s return is achieved via ritual in masonic temple, looks like an afterthought. Musical score by John Barry is strangely underwhelming. Peggy Sue Got Married in the end almost gets destroyed by over the top performance of Coppola’s nephew Nicolas Cage whose strangely distorted voice turns this film into something of unintentional comedy. There is little chemistry with Turner (unlike the scenes featuring her and Kevin J. O’Connor), and this might be the consequence by their allegedly strained relationship on the set. Although quite entertaining film, Peggy Sue Got Married is nevertheless vastly overrated. Its reputation is in many ways built by majority of 1980s critics being Boomers who had soft spot for films dealing with periods of their adolescence and youth. As such, it can still be recommended to younger generations of viewers as solid piece of film making.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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