Product Description

A MAN AND WOMAN MEET AND TRY TO HAVE A ROMANTIC AFFAIR, DESPITE THEIR PERSONAL PROBLEMS AND THE INTERFERENCE OF THEIR DISAPPROVING FRIENDS.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3631 in DVD
• Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
• Released on: 1998-12-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.com
For better or worse, David Mamet's hit play Sexual Perversity in Chicago is watered down into this romantic comedy about a couple (played by Rob Lowe and Demi Moore) who get together and then fall apart due to Lowe's character's inability to commit. Jim Belushi is on hand as the gratuitously swinish best friend who looks at women as meat, and Elizabeth Perkins is entertainingly arch as Moore's gal pal and Belushi's nemesis. There's nothing about this 1986 film by Edward Zwick (cocreator of TV's thirtysomething and director of Glory and Courage Under Fire) that is at all reminiscent of Mamet, but that doesn't make it bad or dull. While one can feel the script straining to fill in gaps where chunks of the original play have disappeared, Zwick often successfully tells the story without words at all, relying on the actors to convey pure emotion. Lowe is good, and the then-willowy Moore's understated performance reminds one of the actress she might have been before she became a spectacle. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

A romantic drama with real heart
Based on David Mamet's play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" this movie, starring Rob Lowe and a young Demi Moore, is a particular favorite of mine. It's an involving and at times searing portrayal of the relationship between two people in 1980s Chicago and the interactions and problems that relationship causes them in their existing friendships.
First we have Rob Lowe as Danny, a salesman with dreams of one day owning his own restaurant and his best friend Bernie (played for almost comic relief by James Belushi). One night he meets in a bar the beautiful Debbie (played by Moore who has never looked more attractive) and her best friend and roommate Joan (played by Elizabeth Perkins).
After a rather shaky beginning Danny and Debbie are soon off on a whirlwind romance that eventually leads to Debbie moving into Danny's apartment and the two inadvertently ignoring their friends (much to the chagrin of both Bernie and Joan).
Of course trouble is soon brewing as Danny has to forsake his rather player lifestyle and Debbie wants more commitment than he is willing, or able to offer. The movie follows the ups and downs in the relationship and leaves the viewer really rooting for the two of them to work out their differences. It's hard to exactly figure out what it is that this movie does right. t seems to have a perfect blend of comedy, drama, passion and sorrow that makes for some compelling viewing. This movie would almost be required viewing for young adults as a precautionary tale if it were not for the gratuitous nudity (has Demi Moore ever had more topless scenes in any one picture?) and scenes of a drunk Danny spiraling down into despair.
This is a true gem of a movie and probably one of the best date movies ever. The DVD is a little thin on special features but at under $10 this is a must-own.

... About This Film
Arguably, ABOUT LAST NIGHT was not only one of the best date movies to come out of the 1980's but also it's simple story of boy-meets-girl in the modern age is one terrific romance. Rob Lowe (at the peak of his preeniness) and Demi Moore (at the birth of her true beauty) fall in and out and back in love, with Elizabeth Perkins and Jim Belushi along for the ride ... and they almost steal the film. One great shooting script of the play SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO and terrific locations, ABOUT LAST NIGHT is a film that I'll always cherish.

The Date Movie that Ruined my Relationship
I was in law school when I saw this flick with my girlfriend at the time, Joanne. Jo and I had been going steady two years, and were getting pretty serious. We were even talking about getting married.

I thought that the film was a real hoot, great lines. I came out of the film in a bouyant mood. But on the way home Jo was quiet, brooding. She asked me to pull over because she had to tell me something.

She said that she always wanted a guy like Danny Martin (Rob Lowe ) but instead she got me, a guy who was way too much like Bernie Litko(Jim Belushi). She said she wasn't willing to settle for a Bernie Litko, and she told me it was over.

She wanted Rob Lowe, and that was that.

I admit that other of my friends told me that I reminded them of Bernie, and I have to say that I look vaguely like Jim Belushi, but still it hurt.

I married an Armenian who looks like a duskier version Demi Moore. Jo married a busdriver who looks like a somewhat mangled version of Rob Lowe.

It was a fateful evening.

Good flick, though.