rpvanderlinden
I decided to putter around the apartment while I recorded this movie, but that was scuttled when the chick's leg with the mile-high blue platform shoe emerged from the bus. I laughed. I remember platform shoes - had a pair of my own. The laughs kept coming. So I sat down and watched the movie.It's not great cinema, but it doesn't have to be. "Thank God It's Friday" is a silly, goofy, infectious bit of fun about a disparate group of people who converge on a disco one night, each with their own agenda. A couple of teeny-boppers want to enter the dance contest and spend most of the movie trying to crash the place. A suburban couple show up - the woman wants a good time, but the man is so uptight he spends all his time whining until, that is, he meets a disco chick with lots of pills, and he becomes Party Guy. And so on. There's also Donna Summer. Love Donna Summer!There are so many characters and story lines going on that it's a miracle the writers kept them all straight. They manage to intersect at the right moments, making for some comic situations. There are some moments that made me uncomfortable, however, and they need to be brought up. The drugs, for one thing. They may have seemed innocuous at the time, but in reality they wrecked a lot of lives. Also, one lone young woman elects to go home with several guys to booze and soak in a jacuzzi. I found that sad and creepy. In hindsight, hedonism did have its price. Watch this movie with a group of people, remembering that you need to take it for what it is, a relic of a time and place - and feeling - that is long gone.
MatthewInSydney
This film was hugely disappointing, with only a few redeeming features (which I'll mention last). I usually enjoy silly disco-era films, and was hoping this would at least be amusing in a Can't Stop The Music way, but this was hopeless. At least Can't Stop The Music let you enjoy the music. In TGIF, snippets of dozens of disco tracks are heard in the background while various characters chatter away in one unfunny scene after another, like a particularly lame and crowded episode of The Love Boat. Though this is set in a disco, the film seems uninterested in any of the dancing, even during the dancing competition finale everyone's been talking about during the rest of the film. The one exception would be the awkward and not very disco dancing-on-the-tops-of-cars scene. It's hard to think of many ways the production or direction of this film could have been worse.HOWEVER, this has some nostalgia value for being set almost entirely in a 70's disco. AND, when Donna Summer sings Last Dance the film finally has a few minutes of glitzy fun. For the one and only time, the music gets all the attention. It's a great song, and Donna looks and sounds like what you'd expect from a disco diva - love the big hair.
fordwagonnut
I was born in 1979, so I really can't say I know that time well. My generation sucks when it comes to being social and music, I was curious after seeing "Saturday Night Fever". Yea, disco to some, sucks. But they close minded folks you really don't want to be around. OK, polyester was hot has hell to ware, Carter was an idiot, people waited to fuel for hours, but people still knew how to have fun when times where rough.If you want to step into a time warp, this is it. It's a light hearted take in 1978 when disco was huge. You could be anyone, any color, any sex
anything and just be open with who you where. The music is great, it's got a great "happy" beat to it. Seeing people I have only heard of was really neat to see. Donna Summer and Paul Jaba make an appearance and Debra Winger from "Terms of Endearment" was one of the main stars looking for "Mr. Right". Also Jeff Goldblum is the greasy owner of the "Zoo" (Dose this guy ever age?). All in all it was entertaining. If your looking for something to challenge your mind or award winning, look some place else. If you want to feel better, relax a bit, this movie is for you.
dgordon-1
This is about the only "disco" movie that I have ever liked. To me, it really captures the time & spirit of the late '70s disco craze. Everyone from Debra Winger and her co-worker looking for guys that don't wear polyester, to the great music of the Commodores and Donna Summer make this a nice slice of '70s nostalgia. Everything '70s is represented in this movie: 8-tracks, platform shoes, bell-bottom pants, leisure suits, I think there is even a Ford Pinto in the parking lot of the disco. I feel that this movie never got the recognition that it deserved. It seemed to be drowned out by "Saturday Night Fever" and "Can't Stop The Music". If you are looking for a movie that will bring back the feeling of the '70s, this one is a great choice.
AD
