True 'Bromance'!

The friendship between Jonathon and Gene gives this movie it's heart. The way they talk to each other reminds me of how real life buddies communicate-the name calling, the backhanded encouragement, the support. You have Jonathon and his lack of confidence about calling Marilyn during the gas station scene,for example, and Gene says calmly, "Jonathon, do you want to be an a-hole all of your life?" It's a line both mean and funny, and Jonathon's eye rolling response let's the viewer know he "gets it". Gene isn't being a jerk; he's just giving his buddy a push. It's less a film about Jonathon losing his cherry and more about the friendship these boys had their senior year of high school and the experiences they had. It's friendships like these all guys aspire to have!

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it's a comedy and NOT about unplanned pregnancy

Then why bring up the issue of protection?

And on top of that it's not us or our kids (just like we can laugh at someone getting fired or punching their neighbour when we'd be aghast if we or our kids were involved). And finally, we laugh because it's fiction.

That is the lamest defense ever. So if a female character gets raped or assaulted in a crime drama, would you dismiss it as not being disturbing because hey it's just fiction?

This kind of brainless approach to watching a film might work for you but for me, I want to care about the characters and follow them on their journey throughout the film. Not just view them as ciphers to move scenes along.

I never really care about Jonathan because he's too much of a cartoonish dolt. Likewise, Marilyn is less of a character and more of an object for him to have sex with. That's why the sex scene leaves a bad taste in my mouth because the film uses Marilyn in a demeaning manner.

Anyway, let me know if a similar situation happens to a female relative or friend of yours, and let me know how "funny" it is!

It doesn't take the easy way out

Yes it does and please spare me the lecture on story-telling (because Mischief is NOT a good example). Throughout the film Jonathan does quite a few irresponsible things (crashing the bully's car, unprotected sex) and never deals with any consequences. The film just uses him as a platform for lame gags and he's still the same immature idiot at the end; he's just developed a more reckless personality.

Maybe it was due to the poor chemistry between McKeon and Preston, but what made Preston's character suddenly go with Jonathan? It seemed like they just started dating because the script demanded them to be together.

As for Rosalie, that was another issue I had with the script. So Jonathan broke off with Marilyn because he realized she was shallow? Then when Rosalie magically loses her braces and gets a new cute hairdo, Jonathan notices her just because of her looks? I found that development to be quite hypocritical and a lazy way to end the story.

Where does it say in the rule book that a film has to strictly be one or the other?

I feel like you're confusing a film's tone with scenes of different emotions.

Yes, E.T., Pulp Fiction and American Beauty - never would have thought Mischief would be mentioned alongside those films - have scenes of varied emotions, but by and large, those films are consistent with their "flavor" (i.e. performances, dialogue, editing, music, etc.).

Mischief doesn't work because its tone is so schizophrenic. It's a film with a bumbling so-called nerd who forces himself on his girlfriend (the car scene) and stumbles like an idiot, then it cuts to Gene being abused by his father and getting into violent brawls with the bully. It's a mishmash of different tones and doesn't work as a coherent whole for me.

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