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all+i+wanna+do | Year: 1998 Directed: - Sarah Kernochan Actors/Actresses: - Kirsten Dunst - Lynn Redgrave A comic hymn to female independence "Strike!" [All I wanna do](1998) has had a hard life, but is a good teen comedy about a girl's school from the perspective of fairly sophisticated girls and deserves a larger audience. The original title for this film was "The Hairy Bird." Miramax purchased distribution rights, changed the name to "Strike!," failed to advertise it, and then gave it a very short run in a limited U.S. release before moving on to other countries. The movie, under the new but equally unhelpful title "All I wanna do," was rereleased this year in New York and went on sale last week as a new DVD. The story follows students combating a threatened merger with a boy's school. What makes it worthwhile is the principal cast (Lyn Redgrave, Kirsten Dunst, Rachel Leigh Cook, Gaby Hoffman), some of the dialogue, and the point of view. Sarah Kernochan received full support from her team of actresses for a warm heartfelt comedy about smart independent women keeping control over their own lives. Insofar as she kept to the conversations between the girls and the headmistress, it all rang true. The portrayal of teenage male townies in the film, however, is excruciatingly bad, and Kernochan made Redgrave's headmistress too ineffectual for my taste. Excepting these two elements, it all worked well. "All I wanna do" offers a unique comic take on women who make their own way in the world and don't take compromise for granted. YOU GO, GIRLS! Interestingly, this movie takes place the same year that Betty Friedan wrote "The Feminine Mystique". <BR> It begins in early 1963 when one Odette Sinclair, played by a rebellious but very charismatic Gaby Hoffman, is taken from her home in Michigan, horse in tow, to the Miss Godard's School for Girls in Connecticut by irate parents after she is caught planning a tryst with her boyfriend, Dennis (a still-slightly boyish Matthew Lawrence).<BR> At first, she resents the change of atmosphere. But the solemn, tremulous girl soon finds companionship with a group of girls, who, although they can be antagonistic, encourage her to find other aspirations beyond having sex with her boyfriend. These include her two luminescent blonde roomates, the sexually mature Tinka,whose favorite colors to wear when she's out of uniform are red and black, and the ever-scheming Verena, deftly played by Monica Keena and Kirsten Dunst respectively.<BR> Heather Matarazzo's bulimic Tweety is a rather weak-willed character, and Merrit Wever's Momo is strong and smart. Together, these girls form a secret organization called The Daughters of the American Ravioli, in which they pledge to help each other acheive their goals. One of the more immediate ones is to rid the school of their lecherous teacher Mr. Dewey, to whom his portrayer, Robert Bockstael, gives such understated underhandedness. At a time when sex crimes against students at the hands of teachers may have been underreported due to the fact that the teachers most likely would have gotten off, this makes an interesting subplot.<BR> But 1963 was the beginning of the modern feminist movement, and these girls take matters into their own hands after the Board of Trustees threatens to merge the school with the St. Ambrose Boys Academy without giving the students any say in the matter. Using every non-violent rescource they have to gain the attention of authority figures, they ultimately help to bail their school out of the financial troubles that led to the decision to merge with the Boys' Academy, and we watch these girls assert themselves and find their voices in a way that might have been more unusual in 1963 than it would be today.<BR> Lynn Redgrave leads the cast as the prudish but sympathetic headmistress of Miss Godard's with a very accurate New England accent (Notice how the statue of the school's foundress looks like her). What struck me about her appearance was mainly her outdated hairdo. The soft-spoken Abby Sawyer, portrayed by Rachel Leigh Cook, is the hall monitor and school legacy who takes a surpising(or perhaps not-so-surprising) turn. Rosemary Dunsmore is Abby's controlling and rather narrow-minded mother who, with her husband, serves on the Board of Trustees. Her role as Mrs. Sawyer is more than faintly reminiscent of her role in "Anne of Avonlea" in which she played another staff member at a girls' academy.<BR> The party scene was fun to watch. It's interesting, though, how the only minority boy and the only minority boy and girl were paired off, which is how it most likely would have been done in 1963 to avoid complaints from the parents. The music is lively, the rowdy townies come in handy when it comes to putting the girls' tormentors in their place, the dresses and hairdos had a certain elegance and grace, and the cast members were talented and attractive, including the radiant Barbara Radecki and Phobe Lapine as Tinka's mom and sister.<BR> Ultimately, this film is a bouncy 90-minute romp through the early modern feminist era which harmlessly pays homage to girl power.I feel upbeat and inspired after watching it! Spectacular This is one of the best movies that I have ever seen. I attended 6 years of all girl school and it reminded me of exactly why that experience was so valuable to me. I dislike Kirsten Dunst generally, but even she was amazing in this film. It's one that I will definatly own in the near future. Buy All I Wanna Do at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on All I Wanna Do Search with the Priority Search Engine on All I Wanna Do This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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