PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED Revisited

[AndyDursin]

Happened to come across this the other day and DVR'd it. It had been a long time since I'd seen it.

First, Nicolas Cage is awful in this movie. People took him to task for his performance and especially his cartoonish voice, and it's true -- he's so bad, the film nearly sinks under the weight of his misguided character interpretation. Everyone from Kathleen Turner to, later, Cage himself derided his performance in the film.

What's odd though -- isn't this equally Francis Ford Coppola's fault? I mean, he was directing his nephew here, shouldn't he have at least given Cage (not an expert in lead performances by this rate to say the least) some guidance and said, "here tone it down"? For me this is as much, if not more, Coppola's problem than Cage's. Coppola was the one with the clout at the time, he should've directed and given Cage some words of encouragement or something.

Secondly, so many familiar faces -- Jim Carrey, Helen Hunt, Catherine Hicks, Kevin J. O'Connor, even Joan Allen...who looks middle aged even when she's young!

What's good -- the mood, cinematography, and especially John Barry's beautiful score. I had forgotten how much of the film was Barry and not just period songs (there are actually very few songs in the film), and his effort is superb. Turner's performance is also very strong.

There's no doubt the film felt "influenced" by BACK TO THE FUTURE but it's a very interesting take on similar material. I honestly think the film would've been even more remembered and acclaimed had Cage been any good. Because he's so terrible, it feels like there's a hole in the center of the picture dramatically, which is unfortunate.

Peggy Sue is playing this month on Sony Movie Channel in HD.

[Eric W.]

I've seen that movie a couple of times...the last time was shoot...10 years ago maybe? I recall it depressing me a bit and I'm not sure if I care about seeing it ever again.

I do remember Barry did turn in a nice score for that. Once upon a time I think I had an ancient Varese disc of that score and I don't even know if I still have it or not.