Review of Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) by Kambiz S — 27 Apr 2014

By the mid-1980's, Francis Ford Coppola's career was in the toilet, having nearly been driven to bankruptcy by One From The Heart (1982), and with it nearly happened again on The Cotton Club (1984).

Here, Coppola made a smaller film, pitched somewhere between American Graffiti (1973) and Back to the Future (1985), a beautifully nostalgic comedy-drama about revisiting your youth. Peggy Sue Bodell (Kathleen Turner) attends her 25 year High School reunion, revisiting old friends Maddy (Joan Allen), Carol (Catherine Hicks), Walter (Jim Carrey) and Richard (Barry Miller).

Peggy Sue is wary about going, because her husband Charlie (Nicolas Cage) is due to be there, and she's in the process of divorcing him. Peggy Sue ends up fainting at the reunion, and she wakes up to find herself back in 1960, where all her friends were younger, and they're still in high school.

While Peggy Sue is clearly confused by what's just happened, she uses it to right some of the wrongs of her life, and falls in love with Charlie all over again. This is the sort of film Coppola should be making, and it's the film that One From The Heart should have been.

It has some brilliant performances in it, and a good soundtrack of pop classics and a touching score by John Barry. Peggy Sue Got Married is a film with a lot of charm and heart.