Certain films don’t need much to work well, but that usually means that they need even less to fall apart. Secret Admirer, 1985 teen sex comedy directed by David Greenwalt, provides one such example.
The main character, played by C. Thomas Howell, is Michael Ryan, California high school student who receives anonymous love letter. He is in love with Deborah Ann Fimple (played by Kelly Preston), beautiful but smug high school student who dates only college students. The letter was actually written by Toni Williams (played by Lori Laughlin), Michael’s childhood friend who is in love with him but doesn’t dare to express her true feelings. Michael is convinced that Deborah Ann sent the letter and asks Toni to deliver his own letter to her. Toni discovers that the letter is written poorly and instead writes her own version that actually does the trick and actually sets up Michael and Deborah Ann as new couple. In the meantime, various versions of the letter accidentally end in the hands of Michael’s and Deborah Ann’s parents, leading to George Ryan (played by Chris DeMunn) and Elizabeth Fimple (played by Leigh Taylor-Young), as well as Lt. Lou Fimple (played by Fred Ward) and Connie Ryan (played by Dee Wallace Stone) to begin adulterous affairs. In the ensuing chaos Michael slowly realises that Deborah Ann, while pretty, might not be the ideal girlfriend he had imagined.
Script by Greenwalt and Jim Kouf is based on a very simple, and anything but original idea. Anonymous love letter is used for the broadest of possible comedies, not very different from farces that have been performed on stage for centuries. Characters are mostly reduced to stereotypes, but this is compensated by lot of energy and talent displayed by the cast, both those playing teens and those playing adults. Fred Ward excels among the latter playing tough and possibly violent policeman. Among the younger cast Kelly Preston does the most admirable job, playing the character attractive enough to be hopelessly coveted by protagonist and shallow enough to be ultimately rejected by him in the end. Preston dutifully bares her breasts in one of the scenes, thus allowing Secret Admirer to fill its quota of content necessary to attract male teenagers who are supposed to be film’s main audience. The same audience is also supposed to be attracted by some physical comedy , a little car chase and lot of foul language provided by underwritten and stereotypical characters of Michael’s male friends. Music, written by Jan Hammer, is also directed to the teen audience, although most of the 1980s rock soundtrack in the background is going to sound mostly annoying to anyone but the most nostalgic towards the era. Scriptwriters, on the other hand, show some nostalgia towards the earlier era, so the parents often reminisce about 1960s. In the end, authors themselves pay tribute to The Graduate, one of the most overrated films of the era, and they do it in an uninspired way that wrecks much of the film. Secret Admirer was mostly rejected by critics and today’s audience might find it somewhat watchable, but not that far from the initial critics’ assessment.
RATING: 4/10 (++)
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