The Last American Virgin

The 80's were overflowing with teen sex comedies. This is one of them. That's not to say there isn't anything that makes this stand out from the rest. In fact, there are three things that make this memorable. Two of them are Lawrence Monoson and Diane Franklin. Monoson, in his first role, is perfectly cast as the teenage boy who lusts for his first sexual experience, but also pines for a girl with genuine romance and care. It's actually impressive how well he acts, given both his lack of experience prior to this, and the confines of the role and the genre. He manages to capture the character's conflicting emotions of seeing his dream girl not only like someone else, but like his own best friend, a cloddish lout, all while having that unique obsession over that first sexual experience that teenage boys are prescribed as soon as puberty hits. Likewise, Diane Franklin does well with what little she is given. She's more memorable because, unlike most objects of desire in these movies (think Phoebe Cates or Shannon Elizabeth), she's a doe-eye girl-next-door. She's far more ingenue than sexpot. And the ending ... well, that ending is something else. You don't see an ending like that in teen sex comedies. If you think Fast Times At Ridgemont High could be heavy, this movie has it beat in spades. I'll give it points for having the balls to end on a total down note, even if it buries one of the main characters. But beyond the acting of those two leads and one hell of a memorable ending, this movie is generic in the extreme. The comedy never lands beyond a mild smirk, nobody without a penis is given more of a personality than "female", and until the last half hour, there is no plot. None. The movie whiplashes you from set piece to set piece with little to no attempt to stitch together any kind of story, or even connective tissue between the scenes. I'd say this movie could use editing to trim out its unnecessary scenes, but that would reduce this movie to the length of a sitcom. Maybe less. And it relies on its extensive soundtrack to tell you how you should feel, rather than let the scenes speak for themselves. tIt's not the worst of the 80's teen sex comedies, and it has some guts in the end, which should be commended. But it takes so long to get there, you might just lose patience, and nobody would blame you. Without the two leads and the ending, this is a 1 1/2 movie at best, so ... take that for what you will.