Hiding Out

Screened on Kino Lorber blu-ray

It's always a treat to see a film from the decade of my youth for the first time. That's something I've said in the past, and though they generally don't exactly turn out to be worth "the wait," sometimes they do. Hiding Out (1987), one of the final nails in the coffin for DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group (Blue Velvet, King Kong Lives, Evil Dead II), isn't exactly a diamond in the rough, but is far more pleasant and charming a film than I expected. However, after viewing this, I went onto Letterboxd to check out user reviews, and was disappointed to see so much focus was placed on what they called instances of both "homophobia" and "pedophilia" and it quickly reminded me of how doomed society is when people can't critically distinguish between actual homophobia and pedophilia, and what "occurs" in this film. I assume based on those reviews, that if they were to critique my review, I would be accused of finding homophobia and pedophilia charming. Oy vey. But then I watched new interviews with both Jon Cryer and Annabeth Gish, both on the new 4K and standard blu-ray releases from the fantastic Kino Lorber, and was reminded again how much art is a product of their time. Their continued love and appreciation for their film was both a relief, and a lesson for those attacking and accusing something they have no idea about, or experience with. As always, humility is a quality each and every one of us should strive towards. This is one of those films that clearly was looking to either ride the wave of popularity of its lead, or even help boost the rising tide of, but ends up getting lost in the shuffle for one reason or another. Jon Cryer had just a few films under his belt, the under the radar No Small Affair co-starring Demi Moore from 1984, and then 1986's Pretty in Pink from 80s icon John Hughes which made Cryer a sort-of household name. One of the charming elements of Hiding Out was the clear intention of making Cryer a leading man, and though it didn't work, and it's easy to see how it didn't (Cryer was also apparently an uncredited producer, and featured his real-life mom .... playing his mom), but even still, it all works just enough. Add in the 80s nostalgia, including my favorite part of Keith Coogan (Adventures in Babysitting) leaving a theater with his date after checking out Evil Dead II, funny attempts to make Cryer believable as a Maserati-driving stock broker in Boston (most of the film however takes place in North Carolina, or is at least filmed there), and an interesting hodgepodge of little-known 80s tunes on the soundtrack (plus a score from Anne Dudley of Art of Noise), all together made this an enjoyable time travel experience of sorts. Recommended.