This is one of those movies that ever since it has first appeared on television, have never really left the airwaves. Almost any given month we can find Peggy Sue Got Married either on pay movie channels, TBS or other superstations, or local networks.


In my opinion, this is a movie that was not truly appreciated when it first was released in the theaters, possibly because of the then recent release of the success, Back To The Future. The similarity in one idea is very present, the traveling back in time to the 50's. They both also knew of and remembered the future from when they were from, 1985.


But now I feel the audience and critics do not just shrug this film off as a knock off movie trying to hop on a successful bandwagon to make an easy dollar.
Enough time has passed for us to see that this film is very different and very special.



Well, as I wrote before, the star Kathleen Turner (Peggy Sue), travels back in time to the fifties, while at her high school reunion. The writers did not, and I guess could not give an explanation why this time travel has happened, because we are supposed to guess, Did she really travel back in time, or was it all in her head?.
The end of the movie, in my opinion, gives reasons that she did both, in her head like a dream, and a real time travel.



This is the first film that I viewed that I saw Nicholas Cage in. I am not sure if it is his first or not though. He is so funny and goofy as Charlie (Peggy's boyfriend and husband) in this movie, he always has me laughing out loud. He portrays a teenager very well. He is supposed to be the cool popular rich kid in school. I like that in the same way Fonzie gets inspiration from James Dean, Charlie seems to draw his "cool" from Fabian. He talks in a very high kind a voice the whole movie when Peggy is in the '50's, and when it is the present day, he speaks in a deep husky type of voice.
In one of the most touching scenes, when he gives Peggy the locket (in the 50's), you hear his voice as it is in the present day, for a second and it is a very significant touch that the film has.



Jim Carrey is a friend of Nicholas Cage's character in the movie, and he did get very few lines, but was a welcome addition to the cast. Catherine Hicks, from 7th Heaven fame, is a friend of Peggy's and looks very pretty, and is also a background character. Helen Hunt is in the movie and portrays Peggy's daughter. She may have the smallest role in the film. She also looks very young, this could possibly be her first role in a movie, but I'm not sure.
I especially love the sub-plot that the star, Kathleen Turner, has with actor Barry Miller, (Fame, Last Temptation of Christ, Saturday Night Fever..etc), who portrays brainiac over-achiever Richard Norvick. She confides in this one and only person about her time travel antics, and he, in her opinion is the only person smart enough to believe her, and try and help her.


The short version of the plot of this movie is:
How did I get here? If I could go back and change things, boy would I, and I wouldn't end up with this fool of a husband who broke his marriage vows.
and then the time travel...
I am back, and I could change things and set my life right. I cannot change things,... and if I could I would not.
To me, that is this film in a nutshell. Peggy Sue's struggle to change things would as she begins to see cause her to sacrifice too much in her present life. It is not as simple as she thought it would be to negate the present things in her life that she holds too dear, such as her children, Scott and Beth.

The trailers for this movie give this movie as a romantic comedy with a twist of sci-fi, and it is actually just that, but there is so much more depth to this film as well.
As Peggy Sue revisits her past of 30 years ago, she gets reintroduced to her young parents, her estranged sister, and her grandparents who have since passed on. There are a few very emotional and touching scenes with her family, and especially her grandparents. I feel most movies would not go off in that direction as to visit dead relatives in this situation, and I love that Peggy Sue is bold enough to head into that territory.

I have read the other reviews on this movie and they were very good, and they seem to love it, but were hesitant to give it 5 stars. Well, my honesty and love for the film prohibits me from giving this movie anything less than five stars.

The movie obviously uses a lot of doo wop and 50's rock and roll music to create an authentic ambiance. I am a little confused about the way things were in the 50's. In every single 50s movie I have watched, the crazy kids love to drive down the streets together in two different cars, side by side, and talk to each other, hand each other beers, have women sitting on the driver's laps while they are driving. My question is, in the 50s, were there only one way streets that allowed the driving side by side behavior? I'm glad they changed things in the 60s and 70s if this is true.

This epinions in based on the DVD. It has a great picture and the sound is the best it could be (so far). The extras are very minimal, in fact there are none. But still, it's a classic so, we can buy this until the newer and better version comes out, which of course it will, and then this epinion will be outdated and forgotten.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, or as Nick Cage would call him..Uncle Frank.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older