Customer Reviews

Peggy Sue Got Married

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

William Butler Yeats:

When You Are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

That comes from a scene where Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) is talking to a poet Michael Fitzsimmons (Kevin J. O'Connor) while she is visiting her high school years. The scene is one of my favorite movie scenes ever and I feel that the movie itself is a timeless piece of cinema. Look out for performances from Jim Carrey, Nicholas Cage, Hellen Hunt, and a young Sofia Copola (director of Lost in Translation, Virgin Suicides) as Peggy's bratty kid sister (is there another kind?) Great musical score. And this is the one flick guranteed to make me tear up everytime.

I consider Francis Coppola as one of the five best directors of the last 30 years. Even in his less successful movies, there is still the sparkle of the genius. And ONE FROM THE HEART which was a huge flop, critical and popular, is, in my opinion, a masterpiece, along with APOCALYPSE NOW and THE GODFATHER, part I, II and III.

Now why would Francis Coppola be interested in the screenplay of PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, a light and nostalgic comedy about life and its disenchantments ? Perhaps the subject touched him because of the recent fall of Zoetrope Studios which, at this time, was falling apart with Coppola's dreams and money. In this perspective, PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED is a formidable statement of a bleeding director : " If I could live again now, knowing what I know, I won't change a thing ! ".

Speaking of perspective, let's observe that there aren't any mirrors in the real world of Peggy Sue, Coppola choosing to shoot the back of another actress when Kathleen Turner faces her mirror. This creates an uneasiness in the audience because we have the impression that Peggy Sue will jump out of the mirror. Great idea of an always innovative director.

You will have understood that PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED is a movie you can watch several times and still discover another little pearl hidden in it. That's cinema. And I like it this way.

A DVD for your library.

This movie does have some flaws but due to Kathleen Turner's performance it merits 4 stars. This role was originally supposed to go to that other great actress, who deserves better, Debra Winger. But Turner is brilliant. She actually becomes a teen again but in the same body and that is a real challenge that she was up to. Watch for early roles of Helen Hunt, Joan Allen and Jim Carrey. Turner was very deserving of a Best Actress Nomination (one she should have got for Romancing the Stone AND Serial Mom). I pray that great actresses like Turner and Winger get great roles NOW and not in crap like they have been offered in the past few years. Anyway the DVD of Peggy Sue is totally worthy of purchasing.

First, I can't believe how shallow, misinformed, obtuse and insensitive Tom Keogh's editorial review is.

"Peggy Sue Got Married" is a wonderful, funny, heartfelt and somewhat haunting story about how the ghosts of high school affect us throughout our lives.

Kathleen Turner's performance, as a woman who time-travels back to her last year of high school, is nothing short of a brilliant. It's a physical marvel - the way Turner transforms, through her subtle facial gestures and mannerisms, back into the body of a teenager. Faced with the awesome possibility of being able to relive high school, knowing what she knows now, Peggy Sue behaves like anyone would given the chance. What would you say to your grandmother, now dead? What about the boy you're going to marry, and who you later divorce?

The movie is very touching, and also very funny, and is definitely the last great film that Francis Ford Coppola made. Coppola was, by 1986, in a very tumultuous period in his career - wasting his time developing cinematic technology and experimental narratives that derailed his career. With "Peggy Sue Got Married," Coppola had a great story, a great actress, and he simply decided to make a great film.

"Peggy Sue Got Married" is one of the best films of mid-1980s.

This is a suprisingly poignant, genuine, affecting movie and head and shoulders above the over-rated 'Back to the Future'.(Probably because the heroine was alive in the time period she returns to and this gives that time period much greater poignancy, not to mention relevance, than the reliably annoying Michael J. Fox gives to his parent's era. The latter makes mid-50's people seem like idiots because he wasn't born then and clearly knew nothing about those times. I didn't find that dissonance oddly charming or whatever it was supposed to be - just annoying as hell AND PAINFUL to watch. Alot of the characters in that movie were weird, as in unreal, not just strange, and the movie depended on this weirdness for its content, not to mention its (questionable) entertainment value.

Peggy Sue is a smooth-flowing exploration of the early 60's from the perspective of the mid 80's combined with teenage experiences from the perspective of a middle-aged mother. This movie has alot of fine moments, as when Kathleen Turner talks to her grandmother on the phone who was deceased in the present time. I've never seen any other time travel movie that makes you gulp like that. Kathleen Turner is great, as are all the supporting actors. Nicholas Cage over-acts and doesn't seem plausible (in real life he wasn't actually born in 1960 and had no feelings for it and actually acted like it was more like 1957 with the hair style and antics), but I guess with his uncle directing it, all that acting was unavoidable. He couldn't ruin this movie but it would have been even better with a more plausible, subtle, even more "square" guy. I really liked the nerdy genius accomplice and the beatnik boyfriend, as these people are certifiably genuine early 1960's people. The Mom, the Dad, the sister, the girlfriends - who wasn't good?

This movie is a straight-down-the-middle time trip for baby-boomers and it takes you out of the park. It's filled with pleasing and facile scenes. It is very well-directed and effortless in capturing its goal.

This an excellent film to watch primarily bacause all the cast members, including Coppola's daughter who plays Sue's sister in the movie, did a super job of acting their parts. I understand that Miss Kathleen Turner did not want Mr. Cage to be her co-star; however, Coppola wisely insisted that his nephew play the roll Some reviews are critical of Mr. Cage's performance; on the contrary, he does capture the part of that type of kid. I knew several fellas like him when I went to high school in the 40's. With the exception of one scene in which Miss Turner sexually get's involved with the student poet, the entire family can watch the film without being embarrassed. I feel Peggy Sue Got Married will be appreciated in the future like many of us now appreciate "It Happened One Night" with Cable and Colbert. "It Happened One Night," with Cable and Colbert.

Peggy Sue is a bored, unhappy middle-aged mother whose marriage to Charlie Bodell, her childhood sweetheart, is on the rocks. At a high school reunion Peggy Sue collapses and wakes to find she has somehow been transported back to her teen years. As she gets over the initial shock she realises she has the chance to relive her life and maybe make some drastic changes. She also realises she can change the lives of those around her, such as when she encourages one class mate to invent panty-hose and encourages others to invest in things she knows will succeed in the future. Of course those around Peggy Sue are confused by her newly serious nature, particularly Charlie who cannot understand why she is so cool toward him.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the film stars Nicholas Cage as Charlie and Kathleen Turner as Peggy Sue, and watch out for a very young Jim Carrey as Walter, a friend of the young couple. Although the lead actors play their parts well, and try to be believable as teenagers, the fact that they both look far to old to be teens does detract from the film a little. That aside, this is a heart-warming film with some very witty moments. It will make you laugh and cry in equal amounts and, although it looks a little dated now, it is still worth a look.

I remember watching this at the movies and not ever wanting it to end. Back in the day, movie tickets weren't too expensive so I think I saw it 3 times there and rented it out on video when it came out about 50 times. It's been about 12 years since I saw it until today, and it's just as good and I still love it.
Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) goes to her high school reunion and faints. Upon waking, she is back in school as if it were all those years ago again. I think for me, it was one of the first 'time travel' movies I saw. It's not especially funny or dramatic, but it's really nice and warm and beautifully done. It also stars a very young Jim Carrey which is funny to look back on.
This really is a cute movie and worth watching because there is good music in it (also a very nice score throughout), familiar faces (Helen Hunt, Joan Allen and a young Nicholas Cage to name a few) and a good feeling to finish with. You'll love it.

I have read all the reviews and they are mostly correct, so I will not go over territory covered. Nicholas Cage chose to sound like Gumby on purpose, much to the consternation of the rest of the cast I have read, but it was his uncle directing so it is what it is. All the other reviews are right--this is a very good film. What they forget to mention, however, is the incredible set design. Every small detail seems perfect--the houses, cars, knick-knacks, everything. Yes, the speakers in the basement scene are not yet invented--too bad they were as they are among the worst speakers ever made--but I believe a good bit of the charm of this film is the background. It sets the scenes and gives the actors an authentic backdrop for the story. Part of the enjoyment for those of us who lived then was the visual transcendence into the past that accompanied the script/plot. One reviewer got it right--it sometimes brings a tear to your eye.

This is movie along the lines of Back to the Future, where Kathleen Turner returns to the past to see if she'd marry the same guy all over again (Nicholas Cage). It is a surprisingly refreshing movie, and I liked the idea of the confrontation between Turner and Cage, as Turner returns with the wisdom of age and ends up falling in love with all over again. (So much for wisdom, huh?) I won't spoil it for you, but there's a lot of other dynamics in this movie which makes it special. Recommended.