Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 11/20/2001
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol/Por/KO/TH
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol/Por
Sound: DD4.0/DDS2.0
Run Time: 108 Minutes
Flags: Mild Violence, Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content
Distributor/Studio: Columbia TriStar
Post-collegiate angst, '80s style, is the subject of this
coming-of-age ensemble piece, which traces the fortunes of a group of Georgetown grads as they enter the real world and grapple with work, infidelity, and adulthood. The most outwardly upscale member of the gang,
Jules (
Demi Moore), hides a plethora of emotional baggage behind a chic wardrobe, an expensive apartment, a fashionable drug habit, and lots of meaningless casual sex. Her friend
Wendy (
Mare Winningham) has the opposite problem; a trust-fund baby with body-image issues and little sexual experience, she's hung up on
Billy (
Rob Lowe), a no-good, sax-playing drunkard who can't face up to his responsibilities in the job market or at home with his wife and young child. Such open infidelity is anathema to
Alex (
Judd Nelson), who must maintain a sense of propriety even while engaging in compulsive womanizing; after all, the Democrat-turned-Republican's nascent political career requires the sort of picture-perfect relationship he shares with girlfriend
Leslie (
Ally Sheedy). That doesn't sit too well with tortured writer
Kevin (
Andrew McCarthy), who toils away at a newspaper job and pines away for the unattainable
Leslie. Unrequited love also dogs
Kirby (
Emilio Estevez), a law-school student whose greatest wish is to romance classy doctor
Dale Biberman (
Andie MacDowell), who is, alas, way out of his league. Co-written by director
Joel Schumacher and his studio intern,
Carl Kurlander,
St. Elmo's Fire spawned the number one
pop hit
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," which was credited to
John Parr but co-written by music producer
David Foster.
~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide