Was The Brat Pack title a blessing or a curse for the actors who fell under that label? Maybe, to some extent. Director Andrew McCarthy takes on the concept through sheer grit and by exposing his own fragilities in Brats. The documentary, which just dropped on Hulu, follows McCarthy as he reunites with and interviews Emilio Estevez and other fellow ‘Brat Packers’ such as Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy over questions he has been asking himself since he became famous in 1980’s. The most important one: How did being called The Brat Pack affect the careers of these actors?
McCarthy is not out to make a movie about himself but instead what seems like an incredibly self-involved project is really an investigation into those closest to him at a pivotal time in all of their lives: his acting peers from films such as St. Elmo’s Fire or The Breakfast Club and even Pretty in Pink.
There are also appearances by several industry insiders who provide commentary on fame, ’80s pop culture and how McCarthy along with others like Lowe Cryer Thompson Nelson etc were part of a cultural tsunami that prefigured shows like Friends. On this note, the doc is both revealing and irresistibly nostalgic trip that will win fans globally.
Released February 1985 was one of those milestones when Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy Molly Ringwald Emilio Estevez Judd Nelson emerged from cult favorite films to become stars after The Breakfast Club went into wide release. A few months later St Elmo’s Fire was opened up in the summer with sheedy estevez nelson moore lowe mccarthy being prominent again .Enter David Blum,the New York Magazine writer whose interview with Emilio Estevez around the release time of this movie carried the succinct headline “Hollywood’s Brat Pack.”
From there everything changed; now McCarthy sets to show how having that title thrust upon him and his supporting cast affected their lives. McCarthy meets with Emilio Estevez first, and in a revealing admission, McCarthy says that none of the actors ever really talked to each other about how The Brat Pack label affected them. McCarthy appears to have been more damaged by the term than the others.
Estevez talks about always wanting to be a director but when “The Brat Pack” entered his vocabulary he had to alter course – he would become the actor who acted through the prism of this new name. Later on there is an exchange between Ally Sheedy and herself where they talk about past boyfriends, aloofness from McCarthy during St. Elmo’s Fire etc.Jon Cryer and Lea Thompson offer some interesting points as well: not officially in the Brat Pack” and privilege belonged to those stars of St.Elmo’s Fire”.
In a cunning move, McCarthy brings us back to the beginning in classic interviews with some of the actors like Nelson, Lowe and Molly Ringwald. However none of the Ringwald, Nelson or Hall were part of the film but this did not alter McCarthy’s determination to present an unadulterated picture of how Hollywood and pop culture make their stars. When he was interviewing Cryer, the Pretty in Pink actor had one question about Ringwald; “She said that she’d have to think about it but probably still wants to keep looking forward.” Additionally there are numerous other surprising revelations for lovers of these films and actors or anyone interested in pop culture history.
One of the most refreshing interviews McCarthy has done is chatting with Demi Moore at her Malibu home. She became famous after starring in St Elmo’s Fire and later even more so after About Last Night, Indecent Proposal, A Few Good Men and The Seventh Sign. As he wonders why his feelings were hurt by being called a Brat Pack kid, Moore delivers some practically insightful advice almost as if she were acting as a life coach for him. It is here where you just wish that you could spend even more time with Moore who obviously knows what she is talking about.
It hasn’t always been like this though! Another shocking reveal features when Schumacher adds “[of St. Elmo’s Fire],” ‘They paid to have a sober companion with me 24/7 during the whole shooting,’ Joel Schumacher said sticking his neck out for me… They could have easily just found someone else because it’s not like I had any box-office draw… we were all just starting out. There wasn’t anything that particularly merited him standing by me.”
But did he? Other great moments arrive when Rob Lowe — confident and self-assured — chats up how he eventually decided to ride the Brat Pack wave and have it work in his favor. However, he ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the bother of fighting against the term and thus this is where the documentary takes a slight turn for the deep as audience members get to see how each of these actors has developed over time. What results is a presentation of these individuals as real people instead of the famous figures many have grown to admire.
Another one of doc’s best moments is when McCarthy meets with author David Blum and asks if he ever regrets anything that was written such a long time ago. And that answer, in response to which McCarthy reveals is something else altogether. From beginning to end, Brats holds your interest. It’s brilliantly audacious, oddly charming and truly captivating as it traces one actor’s decision never to let the past define him again, or an era that shaped Hollywood and movies forever after that changed significantly throughout all those years.
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