SnoopyStyle
Rich girl Ferris Whitney (Tatum O'Neal) and poor tough girl Angel Bright (Kristy McNichol) are 15 year olds going to summer camp. They get into a fight right away. They don't get along but they are both teased as being virgins by mean girl Cinder Carlson. Cinder sets up bets to see whether Ferris or Angel loses her virginity first. Ferris falls for coach Gary Callahan (Armand Assante) and Angel takes hunky streetwise Randy (Matt Dillon) from the boys' camp.It starts out with a good mean girl and two great child actors of their era. I like what it's setting up to do. The problem starts with the males. Assante is way too old and a bit awkward. Dillon is hunky hot with super fine hair. However he's a bit too empty. I like the girls' drama together but their time with the guys aren't that compelling. McNichol acts her little heart out bringing on the waterworks. It's not a broad teen comedy but it doesn't rise to be an intense coming-of-age story either. The girls are good but this could be better.
josh203
What ultimately destroys this movie is its cowardice. It pretends to be risqué -- two teen girls at summer camp competing to see who can lose their virginity first. But ultimately, it's just another Hollywood morality tale, which pretends to be honest because a few of the teens cuss, smoke, drink, and have sex but ends with a cheesy, predictable, conventional message -- that first casual sexual experience will leave a girl miserable -- that could just as well have been delivered by the pope.So I'd say late-night TV viewing material at best, not something that I'd want to buy. Too bad, because with a bit of "Animal House" subversiveness and abandon this movie could have been in-your-face and hysterical. The elements are there, but it's clear that the filmmakers (or, I suspect, the suits at the studio) didn't have the guts to transcend the conventions of the teen exploitation flick. For contemporaneous movies that portrays teens as they really are, see "Over the Edge" or "The Outsiders." Both succeed because they're frank rather than scared.
tjjohnson61
And while I'm at it, thanks to PC Hacker for leaving her comments. Her observations put into words an understanding about the movie that I'd only reached emotionally. I believe the reason this movie isn't well regarded historically is because it was so cynically marketed: two teenage virgins compete to experience sex for the first time. One reviewer at the time wrote, "What ever happened to Andy Hardy?" While the marketing was true to the movie's basic plot, unfortunately it allowed many lazy reviewers to see it through a myopic lens of an exploitation movie. Nothing could be further from the case. PC Hacker does an excellent job of stating what the movie is really about, and Kristy McNichol's performance really is astonishingly tender and complex.Kristy decided to retire from film, which is a pity - but I'm grateful she's left us this and I imagine her retirement plus the undeserved pejorative opinion by critics of the work adds to the poignant sentiment that fans hold for this film to this day.
triple8
Little Darlings is a classic teen movie but the appeal is that it can actually be enjoyed by all ages. I have seen this one and one half times. I FIRST saw it when I was a kid but I actually think it can be enjoyed as much or more as an adult. Little darlings is both a cute movie and a fun one-although it's a light movie, the characters go through and tackle, issues all young girls deal with in a fun non preachy manner and is pretty accurate in many places too. The reason it is so much fun to watch as an adult is for nostalgia purposes. Set at summercamp, it sort of takes you back to your youth. The movie is dated as anything and when I recently caught it again I almost had to laugh at the dated aspect but the fact remains it can still be enjoyed today.Teens will identify with it, adults will reminded of times gone by.
AD
