BA_Harrison Ohio, 1956: shy high-school dork Jonathan Bellah (Doug McKeon) dreams of scoring with his beautiful classmate Marilyn McCauley (Kelly Preston). When rebellious teen Gene Harbrough (Chris Nash) moves into the house next door, he offers to help Jonathan to get into Marilyn's pants.If you watch Mischief purely to check out Kelly Preston in the altogether, you might be pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable you find the film as a whole. A nostalgic coming-of-age story, Mischief delivers fine performances from its likable young cast, a heart-warming love story (between Gene and Marilyn's pretty friend Bunny, played by Catherine Mary Stewart), a touch of excitement as Gene and Jonathan rumble with rich jerk Kenny (D.W. Brown) and his cronies, and a smattering of familial drama, all accompanied by a cool rock 'n' roll soundtrack.Admittedly, at times, the action does get a little silly, with Jonathan and Gene's reckless trashing of their fathers' cars proving hard to swallow, but even so, this is far superior to other nostalgic teen sex films of the '80s such as Porky's and Screwballs.Oh, and look out for early appearances by the excellent Terry O'Quinn as Gene's father and lovely Jamie Gertz as nerdish Rosalie, who goes from geek to glamorous with the removal of her braces.

sol- Set during the mid-1950s, this nostalgic comedy focuses on an unlucky-in-love teenager who finds a mentor in the new kid on the block, a James Dean type with a reputation with the ladies. The film successfully captures the flavour of the 1950s through thoughtful costuming, sets and music choices, and as the film affectionately catalogues several commonplace growing up experiences (looking up skirts; jealous boyfriends), 'Mischief' is pleasant enough to view. There are, however, some issues in the character department and the casting is far from perfect. Doug McKeon significantly lacks charisma as the nervous protagonist and his character is written as a dislikeable jerk who has no interest in women other than for his own gratification. Kelly Preston has an even more awkward character though as the object of McKeon's affections. She constantly comes off as unrealistically calm amid all of McKeon's shenanigans, continuing to still date him even after he rips her underwear in half (!) and more worried about being caught by her parents than something way more pressing after a pivotal love scene. Chris Nash nails it as McKeon's suave mentor though with an interesting romantic subplot of his own, and a great film could have been spun from focusing entirely upon him. That said, the film is worthwhile as it is - just not all one might expect from a script by 'Pretty Poison' director Noel Black.

itamarscomix The title and DVD cover, as well as the first few scenes of Mischief, may give the wrong impression: it's not a sexy-hi-jinx comedy in the vein of Porky's or other such movies made in the 80's. Rather, it's a nostalgic coming of age film, the legitimate spiritual successor of American Graffiti and The Last Picture Show, even if it's decisively more light-hearted and sexy than those films. While the characters in Mischief are based on familiar stereotypes, none of them are flat caricatures - Jonathan isn't a nerd but a very realistic shy, reserved boy of 17, and Gene is a slick, cool Don Juan but he also has the problems and insecurities of a teenager. Likewise, while the plot hangs tightly unto many clichés of the 50's-set teen comedy, it has enough heart and soul to set itself apart, to grab the viewer and make him care about the characters, who fill real and full. While it's not a masterpiece and it's very much a product of its time, Mischief is one of the better teen sex comedies of the 80's and a surprisingly mature and touching film that's still well worth seeing.

Sandcooler I watched this expecting a lazy knock-off to "Porky's", and though that's pretty much where it starts from, it takes a different direction pretty quickly. The sleazy approach I knew and loved was replaced by a very warm approach I got to know and love. Our main guy all in all is pretty standard (Dan Monahan school of sympathetic nerds, wants to lose his virginity no matter what) but once his friendship with new guy Gene is established the dimensions start to even out, the stereotype walls crumble of. This duo is so thoroughly enjoyable you really don't care about the comedy values anymore. The gags get the job done (the store mannequins!), but they're not that high in number, nor would I want them to be. Quite remarkable about this movie, which let's not forget was brought out between a staggering amount of light-hearted cornball 80's sex comedy fluff, is the surprisingly downbeat ending. Though the movie is played for laughs most of the time, you don't sit through the credits (like nobody does anyway, but still) laughing your ass of. Interesting choice. A hidden gem, just not hidden particularly well.