Ohio teen Natalie Becker (Jennifer Connelly) is home alone while her father is away for work. Her longtime friend Jeff Moran stays with her after another fight with his stepfather. Her friend Polly Franklin likes James Casey III but he starts dating Natalie. Then Polly encounters pro baseball player Zoo Knudson and she pretends to be 18. It's a lot of awkward teenage romantic attempts for the three friends.

The main reason to see this is Connelly. She's a bit awkward and new at the time. It's too bad that she never got into the John Hughes teen movies until Career Opportunities. This is not the best of the high school genre. The main problem is the construction. These three best friends are rarely in the same scene together. They get scattered. They need more scenes together to build chemistry and manufacture confrontations. The situations are a little edgy sexually. The characters are compelling but the drama stutters along the way.

It was awkward for me to follow this movie, being as a french hard of hearing and without subtitles. If i didn't get the precise facts of all the stories, i understood it was about teens without parental supervision and who try to maybe not have their first experience but at least their first flirt ! Honestly, it was not very gripping as the stories themselves seem a bit ridiculous (a baseball star, a trip to DC,..). On the other hand, it has a good historical value : being a teen also in the 80s, the movie shows it was a great time for that in all fields (technology, fashion, events)! Next, Jenny is at the beginning of her career and it's cool to to get back time with her and imagine the great friend she was in high school !

Sadly with this one, i reach the end of her cinematography for now : for a perspective with 17 movies in 3 months, i can say that Jenny, unlike others, has the better taste for picking her movies : sure she did stinkers (« hulk », « dark city », « beautiful mind », « dilemma ») but overall all her other choices were always challenging in a way. Like a few others fans, i appreciate more the young, chubby Jenny over the actual slim one : Along her evolution, it's like Jenny has lost her simplicity, her kindness : now she is less candid, more anxious. Maybe that's the point of being old !

I originally came across Linda Feferman's Seven Minutes in Heaven when I was 14 and worked at a video store and I loved it. I recently watched the movie again and have realized that it is a lost treasure. The movie stars Jennifer Connelly, almost twenty years before she would go on to win an Oscar for Beautiful Mind, as Natalie Becker. Byron Thames plays her best friend in the world, Jeff Moran. The film is definitely a milder, cuter and softer version of the Pretty in Pink's and Some Kind of Wonderful's of the 1980's, which is exactly why it is so good. It's honest, not forced like those films, and parents will enjoy watching this movie with there kids.

When Natalie's Dad leave home on a business trip, Jeff convinces her that he should move in because his home life sucks. With support from Natalie's friend, Polly, played exquisitely by Maddie Corman, she lets him. But this movie isn't about putting kids in situations and seeing what they can get away with. The three leads are so natural and the script, surprisingly so honest, that what comes through best in their performances is heart breaking. These characters really do care about each other. It's a great film to show to kids who are reaching pre-teen adolescence.