Valley Girl (2020)

[StevePulaski]

Valley Girl (2020)
Directed by: Rachel Lee Goldenberg

Jessica Rothe and Josh Whitehouse.

Rating: ★★½

If I'm being honest, we needed a Valley Girl remake about as urgently as we needed a Poltergeist, RoboCop, and Total Recall remake. Furthermore, judging by the low-key video-on-demand release Rachel Lee Goldenberg's flick received in lieu of a global pandemic, there's a good chance this inoffensive and modestly charming film will go on to be remembered about as well as the aforementioned three films that had the "honor" of seeing a theatrical release.

The film sat on the shelf for two years following a handful of controversies involving Logan Paul, and as far as questionable remakes of beloved properties are concerned, this one didn't deserve the ignominy of a VOD release and a subsequent hand-washing by Orion and MGM.

Ultimately, Valley Girl is an innocuous comedy that faithfully recreates Martha Coolidge's 1983 rom-com, which has endured a fond legacy even as it grows gradually more dated with each passing year. It's buoyed by a colorful commitment to eighties chic and another fine performance from Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day), who, at this point, can turn water into wine as far as I'm concerned.

Like the original, Valley Girl retains its Romeo & Juliet-esque premise by focusing on the star-crossed relationship between Julie (Rothe), a preppie valley girl, and Randy (Josh Whitehouse), a Hollywood punk. Julie is backed up by a loyal squad of comparable girl-friends — Karen (Chloe Bennet), Stacey (Jessie Ennis), and Loryn (Ashleigh Murray) — while Randy clings tightly to his bandmates (Mae Whitman and Mario Revolori). Julie and Randy manage to have a little fling following Julie's breakup with Mickey (Paul), a blonde, polo-wearing jock who seems tailormade to be a career frat-boy well beyond his youthful years. The two meet-cute at a beach, but get to know one another at a party Randy and his buds crash. Despite it being abundantly clear the two have chemistry, Julie has reservations about how she'll be viewed by her peers if she were to commit to dating Randy.

There's also a frame-story involving adult Julie, played affectionately by Alicia Silverstone, reminding us we don't see enough of her these days, calming her daughter down one late night after a breakup by telling her this story. At first, Julie's daughter is reserved to the idea of her "uncool" mom rehashing a story involving leg-warmers and weird hair, but in no time, the two are eating out of the same pint of ice-cream as she gets more and more entranced by her mom's life.

If screenwriter Amy Talkington misses the mark on anything, it's injecting the same degree of earnest sensibilities in the script that the original so effortlessly included. Coolidge's Valley Girl showed the way peer pressure and the perception of crippling social stigmas in a high school setting play into an average teen's decision-making. Sure, it's not necessarily a revelation, but it loaned the kind of relatability that turns an unremarkable coming-of-age picture into a memorable one. Talkington doesn't omit those themes entirely, but she leaves much of the heavy-lifting to the effervescent energy of the cast, who opt to transition into singing whenever things risk becoming too deep.

Indeed, Valley Girl is a musical, featuring a host of covers of popular eighties tunes. They're performed capably, but gone are the instantly recognizable synths that make a-ha's "Take on Me" so infectious or Modern English's "I Melt With You" such an intoxicating love ballad. I'm not quite sure why the filmmakers and costume designers would tirelessly commit to rad eighties apparel and set-design and opt not to feature Glee-like covers instead, but perhaps at that point, why remake Valley Girl at all? If my biggest complaint is not hearing Josie Cotton and The Psychedelic Furs anywhere in the film, then that should signify Valley Girl didn't approach worst-case-scenario in the realm of remakes.

NOTE: My review of the original Valley Girl from 1983: stevethemovieman.proboards.com/thread/6434/valley-girl-1983

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Josh Whitehouse, Logan Paul, Chloe Bennet, Jessie Ennis, Ashleigh Murray, Mae Whitman, Mario Revolori, Judy Greer, Rob Huebel, and Alicia Silverstone. Directed by: Rachel Lee Goldenberg.