Review of All the Right Moves (1983) by Jake C — 05 Sep 2017

The behavior of the characters in All the Right Moves was shockingly realistic, just like a real group of high school kids. It felt so authentic that I kind of hated all of these characters (to be fair, I didn?t exactly have a great high school experience myself.

) The one thing that stood out as unique in, though, was that the boys in this movie seemed to have a purpose to their lives and ambition instead of being hyper-focused on sports and considering it the be-all-end-all of their lives.

The idea of what they wanted to do with their lives played a significant role in the third act of the film, which was where I became most engaged with the story. The passive-aggressive confrontation between Tom Cruise and Craig T.

Nelson was great and culminated in a solid climax. Of course, Lea Thompson is always going to be a big positive for me because she is the perfect girl-next-door, so I loved her role. There was a section of the film in the second act where I thought All the Right Moves lost its way and didn?t have anywhere to go, almost like they were spinning their wheels and filling time until the climax.

I appreciated the way it ended, but the combination of unlikable main characters and some significant slow parts left me a bit disappointed with the overall film. Also football was too small a part of the plot, which made me sad because I love the sport and think it works great in film.

I realize it wasn't the story they wanted to tell, but I would have loved a more football-focused story.