Peggy Sue Got Married

Should I be glad that I waited until my 50s to watch 1986's PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED? So it would seem.  The film was released while I was in high school and would certainly not have resonated as strongly with my younger self, trudging through "the best years of your life".  I skipped the multitude of HBO airings and was content to only be aware of its presence.  Even though it was directed by Francis Coppola, who admittedly by this time was past his crowning cinematic achievements.

This film got me, really got me.  Far more than I would've expected.  By the final scene, I felt tears.  PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED ended on a different note than I would've imagined.  A more hopeful one.  Still realistic, but in line with the film's big heart.  And sentiment, which in this case I feel is definitely earned.  

Peggy Sue Bodell (Kathleen Turner) reluctantly attends her twenty-fifth high school reunion.  She's separated from her adulterous husband Charlie (Nicola Cage), her high school sweetheart.   The event goes the way these things do - the popular folks still hang with their ilk, maybe partly because they continued to live near each other in the same old town, attending each other's barbeques and such, for all those years.  A class geek named Richard (Barry Miller) gets some respect because he's become a world famous inventor (and millionaire).   Charlie eventually shows up in time to see Peggy Sue and Richard honored as Reunion King and Queen.  But then Peggy Sue feels faint, eventually losing consciousness.

When she awakens, it's 1960, right before high school graduation.  She's in the same gymnasium, surrounded by the same old friends, just twenty-five years younger.  It must be a dream.  She wonders more than once if she's dead.  After the initial shock, she decides to have a little fun by sneaking more than a little out of her parent's liquor cabinet.  And insulting her father's beloved Edsel.  Charlie soon arrives and the older, wiser Peggy Sue gets the chance everyone covets - to go back to high school with the wisdom of "knowing now what I didn't know then."

Specifically, to right the wrong of marrying Charlie.  The man who would later cheat on her with a younger woman.  In Peggy Sue's apparent time travel, Charlie can't understand why she is suddenly acting so funny.  But she is conflicted.  After all, he did father her children.  And she begins to learn things about him she never knew.  And she realizes how much in love she really is with the lug.

PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED takes a very low key approach to the material.  Our heroine does stand up to math teachers and bullies but nothing is done as a set piece, as it was in BACK TO THE FUTURE, a film which which it shares a few similarities.  Coppola mostly takes a straightforward approach but does allow some artistry here and there, particularly when Peggy Sue has a moonlight rendezvous with school rebel Michael Fitzsimmons (Kevin J. O'Connor).  Cinematographer extraordinaire Jordan Cronenweth does exceptional work there and throughout.

Many viewers will enjoy early roles featuring Helen Hunt, Joan Allen, and Jim Carrey.  Some will find Cage's performance annoying (particularly his voice), but for me the choices were right.  Less forgivable was Sofia Coppola's performance as Peggy Sue's sister, but we'll leave that alone.