Brat Pack Feature: About Last Night (1986)

 Written By: Danny Albers

Demi Moore and Rob Lowe are two critical members of the Brat Pack. They first worked together in St. Elmo’s fire in 1985. Their chemistry, along with a very sad scene where Rob Lowe helps Demi Moore’s character out of a depression, spurred the two to pair together in a romantic comedy a year later. About Last Night is based on the 1974 play Sexual Perversity in Chicago by David Mamet.Unlike the play however, the couple reconcile their differences and hint at getting back together at the end of the film, which provides some of the most quotable moments from the film. Demi’s uniquely deep voice along with her stunning girl next door appearance was on full display in this movie. This was her coming out party in a lot of ways. She boldly went nude multiple times in the movie, and had some steamy sex scenes. I think this really benefited her career, because she stayed relevant throughout the 90’s unlike a lot of the Brat Pack. With the 90’s brought more edgy films, and sexually explicit topics. Demi did not shy away from them, in fact, embraced a lot of these roles making her a bit of a sex symbol and icon. The film did much of the same for Rob Lowe. Both Demi and Rob would face pressure to hang onto their good looks over the years. Now pushing 60 (Rob Lowe, 51; Demi Moore, 61), they still have the same attractive qualities. Let’s get into this iconic performance by both of them and break down the movie's topic and important themes.  

Synopsis (Spoiler)

The film begins with Danny (played by Rob Lowe) listening to his friend Bernie (played by Jim Belushi) tell him tales of an elaborate and wild sexual encounter with a woman the night before as they travel to their local bar. The next day, the two are at their softball game in the park, when Danny notices a young advertising artist Debbie watching the game. Later at the bar, Danny makes a move, and the two end up sleeping together at Danny’s apartment. Although the two are still attracted to their single lifestyle, and are being told by their best friends to not pursue anything further and dump the other, they continue to find themselves sleeping together despite the warnings and advances of other love interests. The hook up turns into the two becoming exclusive together, and moving in with each other. The drastic changes to their lives, along with some frustrations in their careers cause some challenges for them in their relationship. Danny hates his job selling plastic supplies to restaurants, and has a dream of running his own restaurant one day. But he’s internalizing a lot of the problems, and it’s making Debbie feel like she doesn’t even know him. Despite the attempts at working through the issues, the two grow farther apart, and the friends' involvement in it makes them consider that they made a mistake. It’s not until New Years Eve when the two have a fight at the bar, where Debbie leaves Danny to be with her friend dealing with a break up, causing Danny to tell Debbie he wants to break up and that “he doesn’t love her.” This shatters Debbie and she moves back in with her best friend Joan (played by Elizabeth Perkins). Once the moveout is complete, Danny goes back to the bachelor lifestyle. But everything he used to love makes him miss Debbie more and more. He eventually quits his job, and he finally opens his restaurant. Things are starting to look up for Danny, but he realizes he is madly in love with Debbie. The issue is Debbie has gotten over him, and doesn’t want to get back with him in fear of being hurt. Unknown to them, Joan and Bernie begin to concoct a plan to get the two unhappy lovers together to try and get back together. The movie ends with the two of them reconciling, and Demi Moore teeling Danny they were “naive: and that she was really happy. Debbie walks off, and Danny and Debbie have the famous interaction which is one of the more memorable quotes from the film 

Debbie: I’m going to ride off into the sunset

Danny: Can I watch 

Debbie: I was counting on it 

The return to the flirtatious relationship between the two characters, with the addition of Danny chasing Debbie as she rides her bike, leads the viewer to believe that the two of them are going to get back together.   

Thoughts and correlations between movies 

The Brat Pack were really the first young stars to specialize in the “coming of age” genre of film aimed at younger audiences. For instance, The Breakfast Club was a film that was centered around kids in the twilight stages of high school, reassessing the dichotomy of the relationships amongst different cliques and the reasons why they chose to ignore or mistreat the people they viewed as different from them. St. Elmo’s Fire, a film featuring Demi Moore and Rob Lowe, amongst others Brat Pack stars, highlights the challenging bridge years of post college into adulthood. In a similar way, About Last Night does a fine job in portraying struggles of young adults transitioning from the excitement of single life to the “settling down” aspect of maturing as you enter a relationship. It highlights very realistic challenges, like being locked inside with someone during the winter, stress of the holidays, etc. Demi and Rob go from a summer fling of intimate interactions, to feeling like they became their parents during Thanksgiving. These are all very real feelings and experiences people face upon being in their first relationship. It’s a goodbye to your youthful exuberant lifestyle that some people struggle to leave behind. Rob Lowe’s character thinks that he loved the bachelor life more than he loved Debbie, but when he got what he wished for, suddenly he was missing some of the slower, less exciting things that companionship provided him. A hole is made the moment he sends Debbie out, and it’s obvious as he painfully watches her pack her things, and that hole grows larger the more he and Bernie try to drink the pain away. We’ve all suffered from the notion “you don’t know what you got until it’s gone,” that’s what makes Danny in this film so damn relatable. He’s torn between two choices, and Debbie doesn’t feel like that because she has a biological clock that only women are familiar with. This is on full display in the scene where she’s slightly disappointed about having her period when she’s late. Because of this biological clock, Debbie is far ahead on a maturity level of Danny, and although she loves him, she’s hurt constantly waiting for him to catch up. Until the final straw hits, and she is broken. But her denying Danny allows Danny to go through exponential character growth and maturity in a small amount of time. And as she stands there looking at him outside the softball game months later, she can see the changed man and the genuine longing for what he lost. It’s really a beautiful concept, because in life, love isn’t alway easy. It’s actually frequently the opposite. It’s hard work to maintain a relationship. And I think it took balls to make a movie like this during an era of fairy tale movies where characters are brought together by fate and they face no turmoil in their union. But it doesn’t just showcase that maintaining a relationship is hard with just a lover. It also shows that maintaining friendships as you age is just as challenging. Debbie and Joan go through many tiffs in the film as Joan feels neglected by Debbie’s love affair. Bernie feels much the same, but he notices that his inability to mature is holding back Danny from true love, and that’s causing their friendship to dwindle. So he shows his true colors by creating an alliance for just one night with Joan to pair the two back together so they can find true love and happiness. Although some of the comedy is over the top as one would expect with Jim Beluchi providing the comic relief, the topics in this film are very real. 

Danny’s Star Rating: ★★★★★★★★ 8

Closing Statement: A blockbuster Romantic Comedy that is a trailblazer in its genre and has stood the test of time. It features the pairing of two of the most well known names of show business since the early to mid 1980’s. If you’re like me, born after the 80’s, and wonder why Demi Moore and Rob Lowe are celebrated for more than just G.I. Jane and Parks and Recreation, About last night and St. Elmo’s Fire is where you need to begin your research.