Take Me Home Tonight [Blu-ray] [2011] [US Import]

It seems Hollywood's affection for the `80s is as strong as ever. After last year's Hot Tub Time Machine and surprisingly good Karate Kid remake comes Take Me Home Tonight; a film which seeks to encapsulate every hit film of the decade in one.

Taking place over one full day (The Breakfast Club), Michael Dowse's film brings us the tale of lovable loser Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) who steals a car (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and fakes a job (Secret of My Success) in a bid to impress high school sweetheart Tori (Teresa Palmer) at a reunion party.

Stuck working for a local video store after graduating from MIT, it's no surprise when his alter-ego actually starts working, meaning that Matt is going to not only have to declare the truth by the time the night's out but face up to it too.

While TMHT never threatens to be an accurate portrayal of the decade - it could have been set in any era - it does evoke some nice memories for those still pining for shoulder pads and disco pop. Cleverly casting an action star of the time (Michael Biehn) as Matt's Dad, Dowse does a decent job of capturing the decade's frivolity and containing the plot to one night meaning there's little time to lose focus on what is, effectively, just one extended party sequence.

As Matt, Topher Grace is as likeable as ever, moving on from That `70s Show into the following decade with ease while Palmer and Dan Fogler as Matt's buddy Barry bring the glamour and humour; the latter grabbing the best scenes involving an unwanted sexual advance and a delayed airbag. However, as Matt's sister Wendy, Anna Faris is lumbered with a dull sub-plot that means her comic talents are never utilised in a film which makes up in heart what it lacks in laughs.

All of which means TMHT is actually closer in spirit and story to 2008's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and not those John Hughes teen comedies it tries so hard to evoke. On this evidence, after giving the `70s and `80s a go, expect Topher Grace to star as Damon Albarn in the eventual Oasis/Blur big screen `90s tussle. Now that would be worth taking home.

A nostalgia film that manages to feel like a film that is in no way related to the 1980s, why is this film set in the 1980s? It has a plot that could have been set in any place or time and Eric Forman does not look or feel like he is from the 1980s. The only thing that is rometly 1980s is the shop where he works that sells something called VHS tapes.

This film is predictable but thats not a problem because all films are predictable, its not the ending that matters but the journey. Sadly this film is so so not funny. The lead is really bad not just his character but Foreman, himself is not a leading man. His comedy sidekick should manage to steal Foremans film from him easily but he is also so bad an actor with zero comedic talent that he fails on all accounts.

Now you might be wondering why this review has not mentioned the plot well because the plot has been done 1 million times before here goes Boy Meets Girl. Sorry I should have said spoiler alert.

avoid and on my recommendation actually get a film from the 1980s, it would be much funnier and aparently most have been transfered to DVD.

Plot-line and story took a back seat for me in this '80s throwback. As a bit of a party animal myself back then, it should reverberate with similarities and happy memories, but it doesn't.

The cars, yes, especially the red Merc convertible and the fashion (yes, even I used to roll up my jacket sleeves, like Matt (Topher Grace)) but even more so, the music that it is played out like a non-stop jukebox.

On the downside are the mostly unlikeable characters, who are largely vapid and colourless. Of course (why of course?) they're all self-centred and out only for themselves. No doubt, the capitalist 1980s were often about that, along with over-used and tiresome coke-taking scenes, but for a change, it'd be refreshing to have a film set in this era that showed the good side of human nature, instead.

Teresa Palmer is gorgeous, sure and understandably the desire of Matt, his pursuit of her being one of the driving forces of the movie. Unobtainable beauties were a feature for many '80s guys, including mine, so that rings true as well as adding some enjoyable eye candy. When Matt comes clean to her about his real job, not with Goldman Sachs but a video store clerk, is she too infatuated with his status and not him? Is she shallow enough to only want him when she thought he had money?

I'm afraid this movie had too many bumps, too many overplayed, unfunny shouting matches and generally an uneven tone, for me to enjoy. Is it a comedy, or a drama? Or, like the night of partying that we've endured, just a bit of a pain....