 | Look, when the horse underneath us drops, we take a fresh one
rating: 2
'Fresh Horses' tells the tale of two star crossed lovers, Matt Larkin (Andrew McCarthy) and Jewell (Molly Ringwald). Matt is a Cincinnati college student who breaks off his engagement to his wealthy fiancée after he falls for Jewell, a young woman from the backwoods. Though they come from vastly different worlds and share little in common, Larkin is drawn to her. She says she is 20 and escaping from an abusive step father, but later it appears that she is 16 and married. The movie is all about Matt's brooding angst. Does he love her, or does he just want to save her? Is her story true, or is it a trap to make him want to save her?
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Jewel: I went through it and it's over, it's done with and I wanna forget about it. I passed out, I musta passed out 'cause I woke up this morning with my clothes every which way and I just straightened myself up and I come right here.
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When he responds to her harrowing tale by correcting her English, we know the relationship is doomed. The climatic confrontation with Green (Viggo Mortenson), her supposedly depraved backwoods husband, is further evidence. He rudely disparages Green's crude soap carvings of horses (fresh horses?) and acts like a passive aggressive jerk, but then Green correctly points out that he thinks Green isn't good enough for her, but Larkin is too good for her.
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Jewel: Yeah, I'm going alright, but I'm going by myself! Don't talk about me, don't even think about me, just do me that favour. You don't want me, I'm used, I'm worn out, I'm bad goods, you can't trust me. Why don't I just go to hell?
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So, love doesn't conquer all. Maybe it's a more realistic depiction of life, but who wants that in a movie? Who do you root for?
Ben Stiller plays his college friend, Tipton, who is crass, crude, and probably right when he advises Matt to walk away from his diamond in the rough, Jewell.
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Tipton: Look, when the horse underneath us drops, we take a fresh one.
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'Fresh Horses' is a bad movie but it's not so spectacularly bad that you can enjoy watching how bad it is. I like Molly Ringwald, but her hair color looks really weird in this film, like some kind of wig that Bozo the Clown would wear. Other than that, the production values and cinematography are great. Lots of really moody atmospheric shots of the back woods, abandoned roller coasters, rail road shacks, and honky tonks. What makes the horse underneath us drop is just the luke warm story, that fizzles instead of sizzles--neither a tragedy of Elizabethian proportions nor a happy ending. Not with a bang, but a whimper...
Molly Ringwald ... Jewel
The Pick-Up Artist (1987) .... Randy Jensen
Pretty in Pink (Special Collector's Edition) (1986) .... Andie Walsh
The Breakfast Club (1985) .... Claire Standish
Sixteen Candles (1984) .... Samantha Baker
Andrew McCarthy ... Matt Larkin
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) .... Eddie Parker
The Joy Luck Club (1993) .... Ted Jordan
Weekend at Bernie's II (1993) .... Larry Wilson
Jours tranquilles à Clichy (1990) .... Henry Miller
Weekend at Bernie's (1989) .... Larry Wilson
Kansas (1988) .... Wade Corey
Less Than Zero (1987) .... Clay Easton
Mannequin (1987) .... Jonathan Switcher
Pretty in Pink (1986) .... Blane McDonnagh
St. Elmo's Fire (1985) .... Kevin Dolenz
Ben Stiller ... Tipton
Tropic Thunder (2008) .... Tugg Speedman
The Heartbreak Kid (2007) .... Eddie
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) .... Guitar Center Guy
School for Scoundrels (2006) .... Lonnie
Danny Roane: First Time Director (2006) .... Ben Stiller
Meet the Fockers (2004) .... Greg Focker
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) .... Arturo Mendes
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) .... White Goodman
Envy (2004) .... Tim Dingman
Starsky & Hutch (2004) .... David Starsky
Along Came Polly (2004) .... Reuben Feffer
Orange County (2002) (uncredited) .... The Firefighter
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) .... Chas Tenenbaum
Zoolander (2001) .... Derek Zoolander
Meet the Parents (2000) .... Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Black and White (1999/I) .... Mark Clear
Mystery Men (1999) .... Mr. Furious
The Suburbans (1999) .... Jay Rose
Permanent Midnight (1998) .... Jerry Stahl
Your Friends & Neighbors (1998) .... Jerry
There's Something About Mary (1998) .... Ted Stroehmann
The Cable Guy (Full Screen) (1996) .... Sam Sweet / Stan Sweet
Flirting with Disaster (1996) .... Mel Coplin
Reality Bites (1994) .... Michael Grates
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Not Bad
rating: 3
This movie is not that bad. I think this movie is highly underrated. People were probably expecting another "Pretty in Pink." But then this is not a John Hughes film. The music score was great. The characters lacked a little background and the editing can probably be improved a bit. The plot can also use a little twist. But overall, I liked the movie, its simplicity. In the end it brings a heartwarming feeling of knowing someone you cared for and wanted to help has moved on...
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Interesting Script - Poor Acting
rating: 2
Fresh Horses, on paper, would have seemed to have been a perfect hit script. You had Molly Ringwald, with her porcelain skin and delicately curly red-blonde hair. You had Andrew McCarthy with his boyish charm but also the male strength beginning to come through. You had a romantic triangle. You had the "class divide". The Brat Pack was loved by millions. How could this fail?
The problem really does seem to come down to the actors themselves. There's very little "energy" at all to this story which is supposedly about passion overcoming logic. Molly is a 16 yr old girl in rural Kentucky. When her stepfather begins fondling her, and her mother does little to help, Molly tries for the only escape she can find - marrying the older bad-man-in-town, Viggo Mortensen. She claims she never slept with Viggo - only used him for escape. Then Viggo's father began fondling her, and now she wants out of this house as well.
To get momentary relief from her homelife, she hangs out at a friend's home, which is a 24 hour party. Here she runs into Andrew. Andrew is a very serious student who has just gotten engaged to his high-class, wealthy girlfriend. The girlfriend rambles on and on about china patterns, having children and living the perfect life. Andrew goes with the flow until he sees Molly - and is instantly in lust. Molly leads him to believe she's 20, single, and interested in him. It takes maybe 3 days before he's sleeping with her. To his credit, he does tell his fiancee promptly, and breaks off the engagement.
You'd think everything was wonderful now, right? However, Andrew learns from friends about Molly's lies. He decides to keep seeing her anyway. However, he doesn't want to introduce her to his family, and has no intention of marrying her. He says he loves her - but his feelings seem to be more related to sex. At one point he even gives her a wad of cash to buy her off.
There's a telling scene near the end when Andrew thinks Molly has been publicly stripped by her husband. Andrew storms off to their house to have a talk with Viggo. Andrew is deliberately rude - laughing at Viggo's artwork and putting him down. But it's Viggo who is the calm one here. When Molly shows up, Viggo points out that Molly's been doing all this lying and scheming so that Andrew would be a Knight in Shining Armor and ride off with her. He asks Andrew - if you're saying I'm not good enough for her - it seems that you think you're too good for her, right? Andrew finds himself agreeing - that he won't take on Molly himself. He wants to get Molly away from Viggo, but then is going to abandon her to her own means. How could he figure that Molly would be better off with nobody at all, vs with Viggo?
Fast forward to a year later, and Molly has in fact found herself a "wealthy college boy" to take care of her and is taking classes again. She's happy, and Andrew is sad. I suppose you have to give them credit for a not-typical Hollywood ending to the story.
The landscapes are often gorgeous, and the various details of high class, low class, city, country are all played nicely against each other. So the problem really comes down to the main actors. Molly and Andrew maybe have gotten too used to playing ensemble roles where each person just has to be a stereotype without a lot of depth. You really get a sense of shallowness when you're watching this movie. Andrew has an entire life including a long-term romance, that he's set in. In just 3 days he's thrown it all away for Molly - but you never get any real sense that he cares about her. Molly was supposedly taking some quite desperate steps to find safety in her life - including seducing and lying to Andrew in order to convince him to rescue her - but she never seems to care much either.
Intriguingly, only 2 people really seem to have depth in this movie. One is Ben Stiller, Andrew's best friend. It's ironic because Ben's character IS shallow and cares more for himself than for those around him. Even so, Ben really seems authentic as someone who isn't used to having to worry about others - but who really does try his best, many times, to get Andrew to wake up to reality. The other is Viggo Mortensen. You only glimpse Viggo once until the end of the movie - he's just referred to as a "rough guy" who has done many bad things. When you actually encounter Viggo (after Andrew has in essence broken into his house to confront him) you're prepared for the worst. However, Viggo is very patient, very well spoken, and quite intelligent in his commentary. He doesn't thrash Andrew for sleeping with his wife. Instead, he lays out the situation and makes both Andrew and Molly face their failings. Molly deliberately lied and used Andrew as a tool of getting a better life. Andrew, for his part, knew he'd never actually rescue Molly but led her on repeatedly to have time with her.
Some have said this is the worst movie ever. Many sections of it can be very painful to watch. However, I do find glimmers of meaning - especially in the ending discussion with Viggo. Even there, though, you would think this would be a moment of great soul searching for Andrew and Molly. Instead, both seem to think, "Yeah, I guess that's true. Oh well, see ya." I don't mind gloomy movies at all - in fact I really appreciate them sometimes. However, if a movie has no depth of character or quality acting, it just makes the whole experience fall flat.
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LOVE THE SOUNDTRACK TO THIS MOVIE....BUT...
rating: 3
I NEED HELP. THIS MOVIE WAS JUST AVERAGE, OK MAYBE BELOW, HOWEVER.. I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE MUSIC FROM THIS MOVIE.. COME TO FIND OUT THERE WAS NEVER A SOUNDTRACK MADE. SO IN ORDER FOR ME TO LISTEN TO THE MUSIC I ENJOY I HAVE TO WATCH THE DARN MOVIE OVER AND OVER.. WHEN THE MOVIE ENDS AS THE CREDIT ROLLS THERE IS A SONG NAME "NO TOMORROW" ITS MY ALL TIME MOST FAVORITE. SOME GUY NAMED GEORGE HAWKINS SINGS IT.. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW I CAN FIND THIS GUY'S MUSIC? IVE LOOKED HIGH AND LOW, ITS REAL DISAPPOINTING THAT THERE WAS NEVER A SOUNDTRACK, ESPECIALLY SINCE DAVID FOSTER COMPOSED THE MUSIC FOR THIS MOVIE.
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A Very Good (But Sad) Movie
rating: 5
All of these bad reviews confuse a movie they didn't like with a badly made movie. This is a very well made movie, with perfectly competent performances. The tone is quite serious, and the ending won't cheer anyone up. But then there are many people who loved Titanic, which I found utterly depressing. More to the point, though, who cares about the problems of these rich kids? Not me. The REAL reason to watch this is to see Molly Ringwald at her most beautiful. And if you enjoy this film, check out Less Than Zero, another gloomy but solid (& underrated) '80s film. The WORST '80s film is Bright Lights, Big City - don't say I didn't warn you!
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