About Last Night (1986 film)

About Last Night (styled as "About Last Night...") is a 1986 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore[3] as Chicago yuppies who enter a committed relationship for the first time. The screenplay by Tim Kazurinsky and Denise DeClue is based on the 1974 David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago.[4] The film received positive reviews. It was remade in 2014.[5]

For the South Park episode of the same name, see About Last Night... (South Park).
About Last Night
Theatrical release poster
Directed byEdward Zwick
Produced byJason Brett
Stuart Oken
Arnold Stiefel (executive)
E. Darrell Hallenbeck (associate)
Written byTim Kazurinsky
Denise DeClue
Starring
Music byMiles Goodman
CinematographyAndrew Dintenfass
Edited byHarry Keramidas
Distributed byTriStar Pictures
Release date
  • July 4, 1986 (1986-07-04)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8.5 million[1]
Box office$38.7 million[2]

Plot

In Chicago, Dan Martin and Bernie Litko, two 20-something friends and colleagues, discuss their outlandish sexual escapades. Later on, Bernie and Dan's recreational softball team, sponsored by local bar "Mother's," plays against a local advertising agency and wins. Attending this game with her girlfriends is Debbie Sullivan, who works at the advertising company and is sleeping with her boss, Steve. Debbie catches Dan's eye and the two flirt at a beer keg. Debbie and her friends, Joan and Pat, decide to attend the game's afterparty at Mother's, where Debbie again runs into Dan, with whom Pat attempts to flirt and Joan takes an immediate dislike to. They wind up back at Dan's apartment and sleep together, after which Debbie hastily leaves.

The next day, Dan calls Debbie at work "about last night," and asks her out on a second date, to which she accepts. After their date, they again wind up in bed together and spend the following day exploring the city, where Dan reveals to Debbie that his dream is to quit his job at a restaurant supply company and open his own restaurant. They begin to date more seriously and decide to move in together, much to the chagrin of Joan and Bernie, who dislike each other as well. Because neither of the two have ever been in a serious relationship before, they attempt to navigate cohabitation without much support from their friends. They experience much throughout their relationship: Dan being contacted by a former lover who is married with children, Debbie's boss Steve having difficulty accepting the end of their affair, Joan softening when she begins dating her new boyfriend Gary, a pregnancy scare, and Dan having difficulties with his boss, who wants him to stop providing supplies to the Swallow, a run-down diner owned by his client-turned-friend Gus.

Despite having told each other the “L Word,” Debbie and Dan's relationship becomes strained, and reaches a boiling point at a New Year's Eve party at Mother's, where Debbie witnesses a drunken Pat making advances towards Dan, and Joan discovers her boyfriend is married and returning to his wife. Joan tearfully asks Debbie to take her home, to which she agrees, despite Dan's drunken objections. Upon Debbie's return home, Dan says he's not happy, and ends their relationship. Debbie immediately moves out of their apartment and back in with Joan. Despite getting back on the dating scene quickly, Dan begins to regret his decision regarding Debbie.

After a few months he calls her and acts nonchalant; Debbie tells him to get lost and hangs up on him. He starts to lurk around Debbie's social outings, culminating in him telling her he made a mistake and misses her at the St. Patrick's Day celebration at Mother's. Debbie turns him down, saying, "You asked me to leave and I left" and that getting over him was the hardest thing she's ever had to do.

Hoping to move on with his life, Dan partners with Gus to revitalize the Swallow into an old-school diner, achieving his dream. The following summer at another softball game, Dan and Bernie see Debbie riding her bike through the park with Joan, who convinces her to go and talk to Dan. She approaches him and they both express regret at how their relationship turned out. As Debbie begins to turn away, Dan asks her out again and suggests they go to a great new place, but she suggests with a smile that they just go to "some old joint," signifying that she is aware of his new restaurant. As she rides away on her bike, Bernie convinces Dan to run after her, and the camera pans out to see Dan and Debbie walking through the park, hinting at their renewed relationship.

Cast

Reception

Box office

The film was a box office success, grossing $38,702,310 domestically.[2] It was the 26th highest-grossing movie of 1986,[6] and the 10th highest-grossing R-rated movie of 1986.[7]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 61% rating based on 28 reviews.[8] On Metacritic the film has a score 70% based on reviews from 17 critics, "indicating generally favorable reviews."[9] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.[10]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 4 out of 4 stars, writing in his review that "About Last Night . . . is one of the rarest of recent American movies, because it deals fearlessly with real people, instead of with special effects."[11] The lead performances were especially praised, with Ebert writing "Lowe and Moore, members of Hollywood's "Brat Pack," are survivors of last summer's awful movie about yuppie singles, St. Elmo's Fire. This is the movie St. Elmo's Fire should have been. Last summer's movie made them look stupid and shallow. About Last Night . . . gives them the best acting opportunities either one has ever had, and they make the most of them."[11] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times called it "Tender, marvelously well played (by almost everyone) and thoroughly engaging. When it comes to the current sexual skirmishes between men and women, screenwriters Tim Kazurinsky and Denise DeClue (Second City alumni) know every inch of enemy territory and take no prisoners."[12] Vincent Canby of the New York Times gave it a mixed review, calling it "an occasionally bright, knowing look at the same singles scene that's been explored no less effectively by a number of other, very similar movies".[13]

Soundtrack
About Last Night: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
Released1986 (1986)
Length46:03
LabelEMI
ProducerNarada Michael Walden
Dennis Lambert, John Oates
Michael Henderson, Paul Davis, Michael Omartian
J. D. Souther, Richard Burgess

The film's music soundtrack album was released on EMI Records. The album includes music by Sheena Easton, Michael Henderson, John Oates; as well as Jermaine Jackson, Bob Seger, Paul Davis and John Waite.[14]

Track listing[15]
No.TitleMusicLength
1."So Far, So Good"Sheena Easton4:04
2."(She's the) Shape of Things to Come"John Oates3:40
3."Natural Love"Sheena Easton3:51
4."Words Into Action"Jermaine Jackson4:56
5."Step by Step"J.D. Souther4:27
6."Living Inside My Heart"Bob Seger3:28
7."Trials of the Heart"Nancy Shanks4:28
8."'Til You Love Somebody"Michael Henderson4:00
9."If We Can Get Through the Night"Paul Davis4:27
10."True Love"The Del-Lords3:47
11."If Anybody Had a Heart"John Waite4:34

Personnel

References
  1. "About Last Night". AFI Catalog.
  2. "About Last Night... (1986)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  3. "About Last Night 1986". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  4. "The Roy Faires Collection - Interview with Edward Zwick (1986)". Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  5. "About Last Night 2014". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  6. https://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1986&p=.htm
  7. "1986 Yearly Box Office for R Rated Movies". BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  8. "About Last Night (1986)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  9. "About Last Night..." Metacritic. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  10. "ABOUT LAST NIGHT (1986) A-". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  11. Ebert, Roger (July 1, 1986). "About Last Night... movie review (1986)". Chicago Sun-Times.
  12. Benson, Sheila (2008-07-08). "Movie Review : 'About Last Night': Some Hilarity And Insights". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  13. Canby, Vincent (1986-07-01). "Movie Review - About Last Night - FILM: MAMET ADAPTATION, 'ABOUT LAST NIGHT...'". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  14. About Last Night (Original Soundtrack)|Allmusic
  15. Various Artist: About Last Night..Soundtrack Album
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