Seven Minutes in Heaven

It's 1980 something in a small town in Ohio when A+ student Natalie (Jennifer Connelly) is home alone while her father is away for a business trip. Meanwhile her longtime friend Jeff ( Byron Thames) gets in another fight with his stepdad and retreats to Natalie's house where they live together. And oh yeah there Polly (Maddie Corman) who is Natalie's boy obsessed best friend who she has a crush on Casey who starts dating Natalie but she quickly forgets about him when she meets pro baseball player Zoo Knudson and pretends to be 18 to try to get in his pants.

I went into this movie knowing nothing so I can't say I was disappointed. Jennifer Connelly and Byron Thames have great chemistry together and play off each other very well. However. Maddie Corman as Polly isn't as great Connelly and Thames but you still get why she, Jeff and Natalie are friends. And her subplot is easily the weakest part of the movie, it's very uninteresting when the movie cuts away from Natalie and Jeff. Also when Polly goes to New York in hoping to meet Zoo she gets kicked out of the stadium and stays with this photographer who tells Polly what it's like to orgasm with a girl and he even kisses her. I get what they were going for in that Polly finally learns that looks aren't everything in a guy but it's just so weird and uncomfortable.

Natalie seems to have an estranged relationship with her dad which was probably caused by her father always being at work and he mother dying when Natalie was young which leads to why her character is so uptight and closed off from people who aren't Jeff and Polly until she meets Casey who is a friend of Jeffs and they start going out. Natalie seems to be a bit uncomfortable with Casey as when Casey obviously tries to have sex with her, but Natalie rejects him. Natalie's main conflict in the story is with the Polly when Polly goes to Natalie's house to see Casey's car outside and Jeff sleeping outside to give Natalie and Casey some privacy and then incorrectly assuming that Casey and Natalie are having sex. Polly at the same time being very mad the Zoo gave her a generic fan-response letter and being jealous that Natalie "isn't a virgin anymore", she begins to resent Natalie and telling Natalie to leave her house when Natalie tells Polly that she gets into stuff too much. During a fire drill Polly calls out to Jeff within hearing distance of Natalie that After that Casey is flirting with Lisa. When Casey admits to seeing Lisa the whole time during their relationship she is heart broken and mad at Jeff for knowing and not telling her about it. But Jeff and Natalie make it up almost immediately after. Natalie then wins a writing competition and goes to Washington DC and meets a White House aid. Natalie going to DC feels very pointless in that it's only in the story to give more time to Polly's subplot in New York. Natalie through out the movie seems to be very uncomfortable with intimacy. It's a good message to that it's okay to reject a kiss or to not have sex.

Jeff is the best of the 3, he's charismatic charming and funny. Jeffs resents his mother for marrying his step-father who is really hard on him because he thinks his way of life is the best life for Jeff but Jeff refuses to do so and always gets into fights with his step-dad. His arc with his step-father seems to be concluded very quickly when in the final scene Jeff is seen playing basketball with his step-dad. I guess you could say Jeffs step-dad felt bad about being so hard on him when they fight in the car but he seemed kind of pissed off that Jeff won't cooperate with him, but it is still sweet to see Jeff get along with his step-father. Also according to the trailer, Jeff likes Polly but I never got the sense of that. I just thought he was just goofing around with her like he does with Natalie. But then again he does almost have sex with her which was also odd to watch because they're minors in the story.

Even though there are flaws in the story I still like this movie very much. The characters are likeable except for Polly when she is begins to think that she is entitled to something like when she gets mad at Natalie for not telling her that she "lost her virginity" but your supposed to not like her in those moments or when Zoo sends her a typed fan-response letter. But you're supposed to dislike her in those moments. This movie was a fun experience and I know that the 5/10 rating may seem low but there's alot of odd scenes, mostly with Polly but there is fun in this movie.

While other 80's teen movies get all the glory, this movie is worth taking a good looking into. "Seven Minutes in Heaven" is an angst on the art of coming of age. Most of the themes is love, sex, and relationships that come and go. Here you got Natalie(Jennifer Connelly) a brilliant, yet independent student who lets her friend Jeff(Byron Thames) stay at her house after a big fight with his stepfather(Marshall Bell). Then there's Polly(Maddie Corman) who has the toughest time in school finding a boyfriend. So what does she do? Falls in love worth a baseball player from New York named Zoo(Billy Wirth) . Well, when Natalie dates one of Jeff's friends, she discovered he is anything but faithful. And Polly meeting with Zoo doesn't go the way she wished for. All the pandemonium is going on all around. Jeff's mother tries her best to bring her son home, and make a connection with the new stepfather. As for Natalie, she just need to open up, and be more forward with everyone. She lost her mother to leukemia. Polly on the other hand needs to be happy with herself and be true to herself. Yes, it's a pain to be goofy, but chasing the winds can make you more miserable. It's a fun movie, should be used for educational purposes in my opinion. Not too raunchy, very subtle. A keeper in the books. 2 out of 5 stars.

First off, I'm a huge fan of 80s movies, and of Jennifer Conelly as well. So yesterday, I wandered into a local used book/movie store and found a VHS copy. I read the back and it sounded good and for $3.99, it was a good deal. So I took it home and popped it in the VCR. What a sweet movie! At my age now, I relate more to movies like About Last Night or St. Elmo's Fire, but still I remember what it was like to be 15/16 and in love with an older guy, etc. We all have those little crushes when we're younger. And if it doesn't work out, we're heartbroken and we think that we'll never get over it. But of course we do. Many times. It's that sort of sweet quality that I really got from this movie. The feeling of "Oooh! I remember when something like that happened to me..." is all through it. The characters are interesting and well-developed. I recommend it to anyone who likes 80s movies, teen films in particular, or to anyone who just wants to go back and remember a simpler time in their lives.

Despite its rather salacious title, this is a light teen dramedy. Unless you're an old coot, you'll probably find it likeable. It isn't so good on developing characters or situations smoothly, though. When you view it, you get the feeling that you've been running back and forth to the kitchen even if you've been sitting down watching the whole time. This is one of those films that counts a great deal on your liking the characters, and they are appealing enough. Jennifer Connelly is the heartthrob of many, I know, but I've always liked the more obscure Maddie Corman. The teens get most of the screen time without a lot of intrusions from those pesky grown-ups. Is it just me or did most of the young males look an awful lot alike?

I originally came across Linda Feferman's Seven Minutes in Heaven when I was 14 and worked at a video store and I loved it. I recently watched the movie again and have realized that it is a lost treasure. The movie stars Jennifer Connelly, almost twenty years before she would go on to win an Oscar for Beautiful Mind, as Natalie Becker. Byron Thames plays her best friend in the world, Jeff Moran. The film is definitely a milder, cuter and softer version of the Pretty in Pink's and Some Kind of Wonderful's of the 1980's, which is exactly why it is so good. It's honest, not forced like those films, and parents will enjoy watching this movie with there kids.

When Natalie's Dad leave home on a business trip, Jeff convinces her that he should move in because his home life sucks. With support from Natalie's friend, Polly, played exquisitely by Maddie Corman, she lets him. But this movie isn't about putting kids in situations and seeing what they can get away with. The three leads are so natural and the script, surprisingly so honest, that what comes through best in their performances is heart breaking. These characters really do care about each other. It's a great film to show to kids who are reaching pre-teen adolescence.