Categories: LIFESTYLE

Bad Movies of the 1980s: Endless Love

Yes, another Brooke Shields flick, but this time, Brooke is not the main problem.

Even if you have never seen the movie Endless Love, you must have heard its theme song, so fabulously recorded by diva Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. If the film itself had echoed the passion of the song, it would have been a different movie.

Endless Love is about the obsession 17-year-old David (Martin Hewitt) has for 15-year-old Jade (Brooke Shields). Her parents, especially her father (Don Murray) are not agreeable to such a relationship, believing it far too serious for a girl their daughter’s age and, like all teenagers told not to do something, David and Jade see themselves as “victims” of an adult world that doesn’t understand them. The only thing is that poor David is not willing to give up, so he commits an act intended to make himself look good to Jade’s parents. Inspired by the dopey suggestion of friends, he sets a fire on the porch of her family’s house, with the intention of “rescuing” them and, therefore, having them be so grateful that they will allow him to see Jade again.

Doesn’t happen that way, however. The house accidentally burns down and David is sent to a mental institution. When he is finally released, he comes to New York to look for Jade and when Jade’s father, still upset by what David did to his family, spots him on the street and goes toward him, he gets hit by a car and dies, causing yet another tragedy. (Is this boy a jinx or what?) This time, he ends up in prison, doomed to never see his beloved Jade again. At the end, though, it seems that Jade will go to see David, so we will apparently have to guess what happens from that point, because Endless Love concludes like one giant question mark.

Brooke Shields is actually good in this role, but Martin Hewitt falls short in conveying just what it is that draws Jade to his character. It’s not that he’s a bad actor, but he seems way older than 17 and much too mature to project the insecurity and intensity of a teenager.

It seems that there ought to have been some exploration into David’s background to discover why he is so vulnerable to being obsessive with Jade. Both David’s parents and Jade’s parents come across like mean, sinister grownups, whose sole mission in life is to make their children miserable. However, Jade’s mom Ann does seem to have some degree of sympathy. There is a scene I remember where, unbeknownst to Jade and David, she watches them make love and, in the scene where David stops by her place after getting out of the mental hospital, appears to even be stifling an attraction towards him, but nothing more is made of her character beyond that.

Everything seems centered more around a series of incidents, rather than focusing on the dynamics of all the relationships involved. Had those things been developed more fully, perhaps Endless Love would have been a better film.