Plot
An aspiring teenage cartoonist and his friends come to the aid of a singer trying to save her family property from developers.

Release Year: 1986

Rating: 6.1/10 (6,652 voted)

Director: Savage Steve Holland

Stars: John Cusack, Demi Moore, Linda Warren

Storyline
With a name like Hoops McCann, he's bound to get that basketball scholarship after high school, right? Wrong! What Hoops really wants to do is write and illustrate a love story. To help him find his way, his friend George invites Hoops to come with him and his sister to spend the summer on Nantucket. The friends Crazy Summer begins when they pickup Cassandra on the way--she's being chased by a motorcycle gang. From here on in, it only gets crazier. Once on the island, Hoops and George, along with George's island friends the Stork twins and Ack-Ack (son of a marine), must help Cassandra save her grandfather's house from the greedy Beckersted Family. Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story - and maybe a real one of his own.

Cast:
John Cusack - Hoops McCann
Linda Warren - Mrs. McCann
Joel Murray - George Calamari
Grenville Cuyler - Graduation Orator
Kristen Goelz - Squid Calamari
Sky - Boscoe
Laura Waterbury - Crossing Guard
Jennifer Yahoodik - Andrea
Rachel C. Telegen - Brunhelda
Demi Moore - Cassandra
John Matuszak - Stain
Paul M. Lane - Biker #1 (as Paul Lane)
Don Ruffin - Biker #2
Gary Littlejohn - Biker #3
Pat McGoarty - Biker #4 (as Pat Mc Goarty)

Taglines: They're out of school, out on Nantucket, and out of their minds. With this crowd, anything can happen!

Release Date: 8 August 1986

Filming Locations: Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA

Gross: $13,431,806 (USA)

Runtime: 93 min

Trivia:
The film is sometimes described as "' Better Off Dead...' Goes To The Beach", as it shares the same star (John Cusack) and the same director (Savage Steve Holland), and is also about an aspiring cartoonist.

Goofs:
Errors in geography: When Cassandra meets Hoops at the beginning of the movie at the gas station, they are in Falmouth, MA. When Hoops and Cassandra take off in Georges car it seems as though Woods Hole is right up the street from the gas station when Woods Hole is 6 or 7 miles from that station.

Quotes:
Hoops McCann: Will you watch where you're going! We're heading for the docks!
George Calamari: We've gotta make the boat!
Hoops McCann: Boat? What boat?
George Calamari: What, did you think we were driving to Nantucket? Come on, it's an island!
Hoops McCann: You never mentioned any boats! I hate boats! I'm not getting on any boat!
George Calamari: I beg to differ!

Very likeable and amusing

Rating:

I have to admit that these days, I can't stand Demi Moore. It seemed almost as soon as I 'discovered' her (and developed a squirmy adolescent crush on her) via this film, her career went stellar, the films got worse and she turned into just another boring megastar. Life sometimes really sucks. But ONE CRAZY SUMMER doesn't suck. It's a very amusing and eminently likeable teen comedy that doesn't stoop to bad taste gags or gross-out schtick for its laughs (Farrelly brothers, take note) and relies on its very eighties feelgood charm to win you over. I watched this one over and over again on VHS when I was a kid, and I must've driven my parents and friends insane with my constant cries of "Chilli dog!", "This is a love story, not a Rambo bloodbath!", "Hi Cookie! I'm Egg...gemini!" and all those other little bits of treasurable dialogue. The cartoon sequences are brilliant, nicely subversive in a Ralph Bakshi - Robert Crumb way, and the cast are perfect. Bobcat Goldthwait really turns the spastic nerd persona up HIGH here, and one of the most killingly funny moments in his career occurs when someone playfully throws a beachball at his head, only for him to yelp "That really smarts, that went in my eye!" Trust me, it's so funny. I want to go to Nantucket Island some day and find a cute rock chick who prefers shy cartoonists to buff studs with hot cars and have a bunch of zany adventures with some wacky friends, but until I do, I'll just watch ONE CRAZY SUMMER again. Enjoy!

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