Valley Girl Review: Timing Is Everything

When the original Valley Girl was released in 1983, most of you weren't even a thought in your parents' imaginations.

Meanwhile, like the Valley Girls themselves, I was a high school senior navigating the chilly waters of teenage acceptance.

Because of that film and its place in history, most of you probably have a better idea of girls from the valley than I did at that time. All we knew of such places came from entertainment, and until the Frank and Moon Zappa song arrived (which very loosely inspired the film), everything from The Valley was as distant as Arabia to a girl from Pittsburgh.

Fast forward an incredible 37 years, and the movie that fascinated a generation and launched the career of Nicolas Cage gets a reboot.

Given my very soft feelings for the original film, the thought of replacing it worried me. And it's a musical, which is not, by any stretch, my favorite thing in the world.

But when I got the opportunity to watch it, all of my concerns vanished.

What works remarkably well about the 2020 Valley Girl is it's a retelling of the original. Alicia Silverstone stars as the adult Julie, trying to connect with her daughter Ruby (Camila Morrone), who recently broke up with her boyfriend.

The best way Julie knows to do that is to share her own high school tale of love and loss and opening your heart to dreams that stand apart from your clique.

It's a musical not because that's the way it was but because that's who Julie views it now as an adult. "It felt like we were in a video," she says.

Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) plays young Julie. Rothe and all of the other actors are called on for quite a bit of singing and dancing to various renditions of 80s songs from artists like The Cars, Madonna, Animotion, The Plimsouls, The Cure, Roxy Music and a lot more.

The soundtrack is pretty incredible even without the original versions of many songs, and there's even a Depeche Mode/Madonna/Soft Cell mashup that turns our a heckuva lot better than I would've imagined.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Valley Girl story, Julie and her besties are inseparable until Julie starts to wonder about life away from their small existence in the valley. The lure of school far away gets new life when she meets edgy Randy (Josh Whitehouse), who threatens her simple existence by exposing her to the world away from the valley.

It's a simple story originally loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet. Two kids from different worlds see something special in each other and take the leap, damn what their friends and family think about it.

Valley Girl was initially supposed to get released in 2018. But the plans were scuttled when YouTube star Logan Paul got embroiled in an online scandal.

If I had to pick one nit with Valley Girl, it's his character and performance. He's rather irksome. Ironically, I didn't even realize that it was Paul playing Mickey when I watched, so my dislike for his presence had nothing to do with a so-called scandal. YouTube "stars" have no impact on my life, let alone their scandals.

In the 1983 film, that character was named Tommy. Here, he's Mickey, but that seems to be the only essential character who underwent the overhaul for whatever reason.

The supporting cast includes Better Call Saul's Jessie Ennis, Riverdale's Ashleigh Murray (because singing and dancing!), Agents of SHIELD's Chloe Bennet, Good Girls' Mae Whitman, Archer's Judy Greer, and Rob Huebel, who can currently be seen in HBO's I Know This Much Is True.

It's a pretty good group of talented actors, but Rothe and Whitehouse carry the majority of the movie. It's interesting that they are the least musically inclined (to my ears, anyway), but it works because they're more approachable as a result.

Julie's parents in the original were hippies, and Greer and Huebel, while not quite as distinct, add a loving, humorous element to the pair

The iconic song that arose out of Valley Girl '83, Melt With You, makes a more personal appearance in the latest Valley Girl, and Deborah Foreman, who played Julie in the original movie, also has a cameo.

You can tell that the group who made reboot have a love for what came before, and they've done their best to give both parents and their children something to love.

Legendary Harvey Mason, Jr., produced the soundtrack and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist choreographer, Mandy Moore, put together the dance numbers.

Valley Girl is directed by Emmy Award-winner Rachel Lee Goldenberg (A Deadly Adoption), written by Amy Talkington; and produced by Matt Smith (Rim of the World) and Steven J. Wolfe (500 Days of Summer).

Foreman and Cage were magnetic in the first release, and Rothe and Whitehouse do their best to capture the same magic, but it falls a little short. Rothe is fine for the role (she's fun in everything), but Whitehouse is a little too conventionally good looking to make the same impression that Cage once did.

Whitehouse is a good looking kid. His floppy hair is endearing, and the closest he comes to looking like someone Julie wouldn't want to date (other than his clothing) is because he does a weird thing with his eyes.

Kudos to Whitehouse for doing a decent American accent, even if his singing does allow his Britishness to escape.

Lightning doesn't often strike twice, and Valley Girl doesn't conjure the excitement of its predecessor. But still, it is a lot of fun for what it is.

It's a joyful reimagining of a classic that couldn't have come at a better time. During quarantine, people are searching for love and happiness, for joy and release. Singing and dancing is just what the doctor ordered.

It's available right now by video on demand, but if you still feel like you'd rather catch Valley Girl with a crowd of like-minded folks and you happen to have a drive-in nearby, you're in luck.

They're making the cinema experience available, and Valley Girl is playing in several drive-ins across the country. I used to spend summers at the drive-in with my friends, and there was nothing like it. Maybe it's time for them to make a comeback.

Valley Girl isn't going to win any awards, but it's a lot more fun than expected, and if you're in the need of a pick-me-up, Valley Girl could totally provide it. New fans can find love in the valley while old fans get the long-awaited ending to Julie and Randy's story.

"First loves don't always last, but they change everything." What more does an audience need?

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.