MovieChat Forums > Real Genius (1985) Discussion > So let me get this straight.

So let me get this straight.

posted 10 years ago by eightdayweek
11 replies | jump to latest

Sherry Nugil (about 30 something) has been waiting for three years (since Mitch was 12) for Mitch to be "old enough" (I guess she thinks 15 is old enough) so she can have sex with him?

Anyone else have a problem with that? If the rolls were reversed (30yro guy trying to have sex with a 15yro girl that he's been stalking for 3yrs) everyone would be up in arms.

I guess it's socially acceptable for a 30yro woman to stalk a 12yro for three years in order to have sex with him.

[–] gabby_bm 10 years ago

If you're the 15-year old boy about to have sex with Sherry Nugil, then it's pretty friggin' hot. i don;'t know how a girl would feel if the roles were reversed. But as a 15-year old guy, I would have been more than happy to play doctor with Sherry.

As a parent, i understand the concern. And i wouldn;t feel the same way about my son experiencing it as I would myself. But that goes for a lot of things that provide pleasure. Wisdom comes at a price. And one of those prices is not having 15-year old kids having sex with adults.

But i also don;t recall all this "up-in-arms" crap when Tatum O'Neal gets mouth-to-mouth from her adult swimming instructor. let the kids have their fantasies. Because the reality often sucks.

**WARNING: MY POSTS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**
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[–] kolybear70 10 years ago

But i also don;t recall all this "up-in-arms" crap when Tatum O'Neal gets mouth-to-mouth from her adult swimming instructor. let the kids have their fantasies. Because the reality often sucks.

I'm guessing you're referring to LITTLE DARLINGS (1980) (you should identify the film in such cases for those who may not instantly make the connection). Armand Assante as the swim instructor literally gave Ferris mouth-to-mouth because, as a trained water safety instructor, that would be the correct procedure if the victim were not breathing but the heart were still pounding. As far as anything else untoward, the adult character did nothing at all, even gently rebuked her when she tried to kiss him at the door to his cabin--Ferris simply claimed they'd had sex so she could win the bet, and he immediately lost his job even though it was a lie.

There are certainly a lot of things that occur in movies that are repulsive and would bring both the law and public censure down on the perpetrator(s), but in this case, it's probably best to take it as an object lesson that one should never, under any circumstances, falsely make claims that an adult has been sexually inappropriate with a minor, as it could ruin the life of the innocent adult.

(As for the situation in REAL GENIUS, let's face it, a horny 15-year-old boy given the opportunity to have sex with some who looks like Patti D'Arbanville did in 1985 would most likely jump at the chance--the potential consequences for the woman would depend on the aftermath of the situation.)

[–] gabby_bm 10 years ago

Yes, I was referring to Little Darlings. And yes, the situation was far different (kid pursuing the adult -vs- adult pursuing the kid)

**WARNING: MY POSTS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**
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[–] Lunchbox-3 9 years ago

Of course it's creepy, she's creepy. She doesn't have any interest in him she just wants to check him off a list. However her quote about waiting since he was 12 is something I've heard many celebrities say in regards to many young females usually and yes, it is quite disturbing.

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 9 years ago

Ironically Patti D'Arbanville, who played Sherry: Patti was 17 before her mother allowed her to appear in an Andy Warhol project but, as a matter of fact, Warhol already discovered her at the age of 13. Her start in a lesbian love-scene in Flesh (1968), was followed by a string of movies with some degree of nudity included.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] JaeBianca 8 years ago

Obviously, it's not socially acceptable! However, you should take into consideration that even in sex comedies, American attitudes about what is or is not appropriate have changed a lot in the last 30 years: statutory rape, sex with people under the influence of drugs or alcohol, sex while someone is unconscious, switching out/trading partners without their consent, voyerism, stalking, involuntary sexual degradation, prostitution/sex trafficking, beastiality, etc. And, most of those were probably covered in the Police Academy series alone as kooky-crazy shenanigans.

This site has a decent list of examples, too. I agree with most of them, except that I think Heathers and Soul Man are more timely and poignant than offensive. Soul Man gets a lot of crap, but it was my very first exposure to the concept of "driving while black" and "white privilege."
http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/archaic-80s-comedies.php

[–] archangel-23354 8 years ago

Mitch was 15, not 12. Add 3 and he was 18 and fair game.

[–] lpt0127 8 years ago

I took a big chance recommending a fifteen-year-old.
- Atherton to Mitch

Welcome to the El Flamingo, Jeffrey!
Don't piss in the pool, Jeffrey.

[–] JellyFish19 8 years ago

Well yeah, that scene just came out of nowhere, but it's an 80s comedy movie, so I expected something like that.

Just like in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", where a 26 year old guy has sex with a 15 year old girl and it's just casualty played for laughs.

Was this awkward age gap that common and accepted as these type of movies make it out to be?

[–] restlessminds 8 years ago

A 10 years difference is creepy when a man's 25 and a female is 15. However, that changes when the woman's 25 and the man's 35. For example, my grandfather was born in 1901 and my grandmother was born in 1918. They had 3 kids together, my father being the youngest. So my grandfather was in his 40's when he had my father and his 2 brothers. My neighbor, he didn't have his 2 kids until he was in his mid-40's just like my grandfather.

[–] Huskie_Jon 8 years ago

Not everything in Fast Times is played for laughs. The statutory rape scene is supposed to be a tragic loss of innocence. A dark statement in a comedy.

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