Product Details

• Actors: C. Thomas Howell, Lori Loughlin, Kelly Preston, Dee Wallace, Cliff De Young
• Directors: David Greenwalt
• Writers: David Greenwalt, Jim Kouf
• Producers: C.O. Erickson, Jim Kouf, Lynn Bigelow, Stephen J. Roth
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: March 7, 2000
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305812225
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #206,472 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the brief flower of his teen idolhood, C. Thomas Howell starred in this unexpectedly mature teen comedy. High school loser Michael (Howell) receives an unsigned love note and hopes it's from the queen of the social scene, Debbie (Kelly Preston). When Debbie brushes him off, his best friend Toni (Lori Loughlin) convinces him to send her an anonymous note of his own--only Toni, who's so in love with Michael that she wants him to be happy, rewrites his clumsy fumblings into romantic prose, and Debbie swoons. Meanwhile, the first note has fallen into other hands, setting off misguided passion among the kids' parents. Secret Admirer could have been familiar fluff, but the plot keeps taking unexpected turns, tweaking the clichés of the teen genre with a dose of reality. The characters reveal surprising sides, resulting in a unusually rich story that earns its happy ending. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Teen Movies of the 80's, December 30, 2002

By 

K. Palmer (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Secret Admirer (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

I was just graduating college when Secret Admirer came out in the mid 80's. But over 15 years later, it is one of the few 80's teen movies I still enjoy watching over and over again. There really isn't anything new in this movie that hasn't been covered in other movies and the final outcome is pretty predictable, but the cast is a good one. C. Thomas Howell, Kelly Preston (Holy Smokes!) and the absolutely adorable Lori Loughlin work extremely well together with the unrequited love portion of the story and the adult cast (in particular Fred Ward in a hilarious performance) also all have their moments. You even see Corey Haim ("Lucas") before he hit fame and later became a hilarious "True Hollywood Story".

Glad to see that this is coming to DVD. I hope it has a commentary track with some of the stars of the flick because it would be interesting to see what they think of the movie so many years later.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely a lot of fun, April 13, 2000

By 

Brian Reaves (Anniston, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Admirer [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie is great, plain and simple. As you watch the love letter change hands from person to person and things unravel for everyone, you don't see HOW things are going to end up sane, but it all works well. Definitely worth watching. The only downside I guess is this: only in a movie could your best friend be someone as beautiful and sweet as Lori Laughlin and you STILL be looking around for someone. In real life, it doesn't happen that way, my friend. I mean, yes, Kelly Preston is gorgeous, but still...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm a movie fanatic and this is one of my all time favorites, December 2, 2004

By 

EdwoodCA (Fountain Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Admirer (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

I've seen a ton of movies and this rates as one of my all time favorites because it's very funny, heartbreaking if you've ever had an unrequitted love, well acted, has the incredible instrumental theme song by Jan Hammer, and has many, many quotable lines that I love to repeat to this day. [Just like I do with John Hughes' 80's classics Sixteen Candles, B-fast Club, Weird Science, etc.]

"One more wisecrack outta you and I'm gonna butter your necktie."
"... 'til Duran Duran here, tried to [jump the grand canyon in my van]" [or something to that effect... lol... the Duran Duran part is the funny.]
"Whole wheat makes me fart." "WE KNOW!!!"

The adults in the movie are great too, not just filler for this "teen movie". Fred Ward as Lt. Fimple makes one of the absolute BEST deliveries of a very common profane phrase EVER!
Michael: "uh, good evening Mr. Fimple."
Lt. Fimple: "**** you!" And it's only 10% what he says and 90% HOW HE SAYS IT, that makes it SO memorable.

Nuff said... rent it or buy it... just watch it and laugh.