In one scene thirty-minutes into John Hughes's CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, made during his career midlife crisis between teenage and adult comedies, gorgeous brunette dream girl Jennifer Connelly, standing in the central Target store location late at night, hours after closing, asks fast-talking star Frank Whalley: "What are you doing here?" Wherein he answers, "I work here."
Probably the most coherently logical reply by a character so zany
and over-confident, you can see how great Matthew Broderick was in
Hughes's FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF just for not having to try so hard to
be so likable... Whalley plays the rambling village idiot in a
small town (Hughes's class envy spouted throughout), looked down upon by adults and "up upon" by three children
who have no purpose but following Whalley around like puppy dogs, and
it's impossible to understand what has them so captivated... The audience
sure isn't, and wasn't: this was one of John's biggest bombs, and Whalley
only played third or fourth bananas afterwards... However, there IS a purpose, a kind of exploitation element for CAREER, and it's
twofold: the first being the mere casting of Connelly, who was truly
gorgeous enough to put into a movie for being truly gorgeous enough to be IN
that movie, especially the trailers (to get young men into the theaters)... but having no real plot-line doesn't help matters... Also, other than being NOT ONLY an endorsement for something that was pretty new at the time,
the superstore experience... but it's a worthwhile location and somewhat of a dream job, working at a Target store, late at night and all alone, with literally everything at your fingertips... But there needed to be a better character besides "the town liar"
to base a comedy romp on, beyond a stunning girl and final act
keystone-criminal break-in trope that would have fared a lot more successfully in...
well... HOME ALONE ring a bell? For John Hughes, who wrote and
didn't direct either, this was an OPPORTUNITY for a big endorsement and to
attempt making his FERRIS persona grown up... but that guy was a lot
cooler, smarter, more mature and far more entertaining than this guy... Basically, watching Matthew Broderick wander around alone in a tiny dimestore would have beaten this turkey. Rating: **
