Vision Quest (1985)

Directed by Harold Becker. Starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino, Michael Schoeffling, Charles Hallahan, Ronny Cox, Daphne Zuniga, Harold Sylvester, Frank Jasper. [R]

High school wrestler Modine dedicates himself to dropping two weight classes so he can challenge a state champion rival, but his efforts are stymied when he gets hung up on a sexy but aloof older woman (Fiorentino, her film debut) who’s temporarily boarding at his house. Standard sports melodrama elements don’t always mesh with the romance (more mature than the average “teen flick” material), but the movie at least has a little more on its mind than you’d expect from the setup. Some good performances and a valuable soundtrack, but it’s plagued by too many nagging flaws, like how the “vision quest” of the title is phony or how it’s almost impossible to believe that Fiorentino would be welcomed by near-strangers to crash in their home (one of them being a hormonal teenager), or the mistakes in the way Becker directs the movements, the coverage, and the actors. For example, after the climactic match is decided by the referee’s hand-slam, Becker decides to show about ten different reaction shots from the sidelines and the crowd before finally showing the face of the protagonist, already on his feet. Forest Whitaker and James Gammon have minor roles, and Madonna shows up in a cameo (maybe playing herself?) where she sings snippets of a couple of tunes: “Gambler” and number-one hit “Crazy for You”. (The song was so popular, in fact, the movie was released in several international markets as Crazy for You.)

48/100