From Toni Basil to the Eurythmics, from friendship bracelets to whip-it's, the summer of 1984 was about as 80's as the 80's ever got.

Stuck right in the middle of it is Eric Hunter, heading towards his senior year in Sandusky, Ohio, and passing the summer working at a local amusement park in the fast food restaurant.
He is joined by his long time girl/friend Maggie, as they don their ugly brown polyester uniforms and face the world...
Bussing tables at the restaurant is Ohio State hotel-management student Rod.

He casts his baby-blue eyes at Eric, who finds it increasingly difficult to not flirt back. His attraction to Rod confuses, terrifies, and exhilirates him.
Bit by bit, Eric begins using the clothes, attitude and (gulp) hair care products of the era to express the new person he is becoming; namely, himself.

As Chris steps trepidatiously into a world he doesn't quite understand, the division between who he is and who he wants to be begins to strain. It becomes apparant that something, soon, has got to give...

This movie encapsulates the experience of many young gay men. Eric goes through every experience that many gay men went through on their journey of self-discovery.

First love/lust, first heartbreak, first club experience complete with anonymous sexual encounter, loss of a friend who can't deal with homosexuality, attempt to go straight, parent(s) finding out. And Lea DeLaria as Eric's lesbian "fairy godmother".

The movie is acted well, and honestly. It brings laughter, tears and a little nostalgia for more innocent times when AIDS wasn't such an ever-present danger.

The ending is a little rushed I think, an almost desperate attempt to tie up all the loose ends, but I can't say more without giving anything away, but to paraphrase an old saying 'the means justify the end.' This ones worth seeing more than once.

Video

DVD