Review of Eight Days a Week (1997) by S.j. A — 07 Jul 2008

Eight Days a Week, which is named after a Beatles song for no particular reason, is the story of Peter (Schaefer) and his unreasonable obsession with Erica (Russell). Okay, I take that back, he explains exactly why he's obsessed with her: her breasts.

While this may come across as shallow, Peter's grandfather makes a convincing argument when he says, "All those other activities - playing the violin, washing dishes, reading novels, drinking wine - are just ways of passing time, until you can make love again." It sounds meaningful and sweet, even if it's basically grounded in horniness.

So Peter spends his summer standing outside of Erica's window, watching her go out with her jock boyfriend while Peter (the self-proclaimed "sweet" guy) gets ignored completely -- or worse yet, used as a stepping stone on Erica's path to her loogie-hawking boyfriend Nick.

So we can kind of feel bad for Peter. If nothing else, he's earnest and polite. There are several humorous parts, the best regarding the habit of songs and movies to fade out. It's a fun, sweet movie.

Until the end.

SPOILERS.

When Peter finally comes to his senses and realizes that Erica is not worth the trouble is precisely when she realizes that she is madly in love with him. So, while he goes to a party, she stands outside his bedroom window for a few hours.

Of course, when he finds her there, they go upstairs (if you know what I mean) and the movie hastily comes (if you know what I mean) to a conclusion.

I felt betrayed. Why was it necessary to have a rushed, quote-unquote "happy" ending? When Peter realized that he was better than Erica, that was the high point of the movie for me. I was so disappointed when they ended up together anyway.

Still, for the most part it's fun and silly, and that's okay.