A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon 1988

A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon 1988
1h 30m | Comedy, Drama, Romance | Release date: February 26, 1988 (United States)

Storyline:

A recent high school graduate is faced with two options, either go to a business school where his father wants him to go to, or get a full time job. However he decides to defy his father and go to Hawaii. Trouble is he has no money. Along the way he comes to understand his parents and eventually bonds with his father.

User review:

“A Night In The Life Of Jimmy Reardon” is a grinless Coming Of Age film which has been mis-packaged as a comedy. It almost seems as if half the film was in the can before someone on high decided to change the genre… either that or Richert forgot to film a lot of scenes.

River Phoenix is said to have been ashamed of his part in the film, but he is actually not bad, considering the material he had to rise above. Reardon gives us a Phoenix who has not yet become hard-eyed, ‘though the character he played was nearly graceless. River still had fuzz on his chin and boyish charm. This was a young man on the cusp of greatness.

The adult actors in this film were dreadful and the other young actors were uneven. I hardly recognized Mathew Perry. Talk about a baby face!

Watching Reardon is like watching kids try to play grownup. The script was originally written for older actors and would have been better if older actors were used. Those used seemed hardly past puberty, and had no idea how to play “sexually jaded” at all.

Overall, I prefer Reardon to “Dogfight” as a River Phoenix vehicle and a comparison of the box-office take shows many others did too.

See it if only to see a still innocent River Phoenix playing a young man far removed from himself.

Director: William Richert
Writer: William Richert
Stars: River Phoenix, Ann Magnuson, Meredith Salenger
Country of origin: United States
Language: English
Also known as: A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
Filming locations: Chicago, Illinois, USA