Lucas

Lucas is fourteen, smaller than his classmates, wears glasses and is a target at school; over the summer he becomes friends with Maggie and feels close to someone for the first time. When term starts Maggie joins the cheerleaders, grows close to Cappie, the captain of the football team, and Lucas cannot take it. David Seltzer does not build a teen comedy; he lets the jealousy and the rejection genuinely hurt and does not keep vindicating his protagonist. Corey Haim leads, Charlie Sheen plays Cappie, and Winona Ryder appears in her first film. The applause at the end is arguable, and the rest of the film stands apart for its honesty. Who it is for: viewers who like eighties youth films and stories that take adolescent pain seriously. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a light teen comedy.