TODAY'S NUGGET: Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) - Stumbling, Failing, & Making Bad Choices

[Quick Summary: A quiet, artistic high school senior asks out the most beautiful girl at school, upsetting her ex-boyfriend and his friend who is a girl.]

WHAT: I read an old tweet by Eric Heisserer (full tweetstorm here):

Can we start to bring back action heroes who fail, lose fights, struggle with real issues, etc.? It can still be escapist action, too!

WHERE: Where are these heroes?  In scripts like Some Kind of Wonderful.

WHY: Roger Ebert explains:

Hardly ever do we get an American movie about adults who are attempting to know themselves better, live better lives, get along more happily with the people around them. Most American movies are about the giving and receiving of violent pain. That's why I look forward to John Hughes's films about American teenagers. His films are almost always about the problems of growing up and becoming a more complete person.....

[I]t is not about whether the hero will get the girl. It is about whether the hero should get the girl, and when was the last time you saw a movie that even knew that could be the question? (emphasis mine)

HOW: How to do this? By characters stumbling, failing, and making bad choices, which exposes deeper issues or beliefs.

NOTES FOR THE EXAMPLE BELOW:
- When not in school, Keith works 20 hrs/wk at a gas station/car repair.
- Back in the day, a "full service" gas station attendant would pump your gas for you and check your oil.
- Hardy has pulled his car into the gas station, humiliated Keith in front of Amanda, and has just driven off.
- The interesting thing is not that Keith is fixated on Amanda, but WHY.  Watch how talking with Drummer Girl starts to unearth faulty beliefs about himself.

ex. "INT. REPAIR BAY

Drummer Girl's seen everything. She'd like to kill Hardy. And possibly Amanda. Keith walks in.

DRUMMER GIRL: Keith? I watched that. It was sick. If that isn't the raw, bleeding truth about Amanda Jones, I don't know what is. You gotta forget her.

KEITH (defensive): It wasn't her. She didn't give me any shit.

DRUMMER GIRL: Why is she so important to you?

KEITH: Can't you stay out of it? You don't understand it. I can't explain it. I'm going nowhere and I'm going all alone.

DRUMMER GIRL: What about me?

CU. KEITH

He sighs.

KEITH: You're a friend. This is something else.

CU. DRUMMER GIRL

A slow, sad exhale. She nods. Not what she wanted to hear.

DRUMMER GIRL: Okay. (abrupt change of subject) Next time that jerk comes here, you better not be so quick to serve him. Let him check his own oil. You're not his slave.

INT. GARAGE

Keith smiles. He reaches around behind him. He pulls Hardy's dipstick out of his belt. He smiles and tosses it in the trash. He picks up his tool and goes back to work under the Benz."

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I also liked what Ebert wrote: This could've been a "standard Hughes teenager film," but "Hughes always gives his characters the right to be real."

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)(undated draft)
Written and directed by John Hughes