Brats (2024)
Directed by: Andrew McCarthy
Premise: A documentary about the so-called “Brat Pack,” a group of actors popular in the youth-oriented films of the 1980s. Andrew McCarthy meets with various actors from that time to discuss that period of their lives.
What Works: The term “Brat Pack” was coined by David Blum in a 1985 article for New York magazine that profiled actor Emilio Estevez and several other performers including Rob Lowe and Judd Nelson. The phrase caught on and became the label for a whole swath of actors and movies of that era, many of them associated with filmmaker John Hughes. The documentary Brats looks back at the Brat Pack and the way Blum’s article shaped the lives and careers of these performers. Actor turned filmmaker Andrew McCarthy, who had been in St. Elmo’s Fire and Pretty in Pink, documents his efforts to grapple with the meaning of the Brat Pack by catching up with his former costars and directors. The most interesting aspect of Brats is the exploration of how actors and others working in media can lose control of their identity and their careers by forces outside of their control. McCarthy has a mixed view of the “Brat Pack” label, seeing it as having diminished the work that he and others did at that time. The media created an image that wasn’t necessarily true, or was true for some of them but not all, and the actors felt trapped in that image. One of the best scenes in Brats is Andrew McCarthy’s interview with David Blum in which they sort out the meaning of the article and Blum calls McCarthy on some of his self-absorption and victim complex.
What Doesn’t: It’s hard to say who Brats is for. Younger viewers who don’t know the Brat Pack or those films will not be educated about them. The filmmakers presume the viewer is familiar with these films and their casts. Older audiences aren’t likely to get much out of Brats either. The documentary skims over the movies and personalities involved and it doesn’t say anything new or insightful about them. It’s all very superficial and repetitive. It seems most likely McCarthy made the documentary for himself to work through his own conflicted feelings about his youth but Brats comes across like a bad therapy session. McCarthy talks in circles, making the same uninspired observations over and over again, without coming to new revelations. At it’s worst, Brats comes across whinny. The fact is these people had successful careers and were in movies that are loved and have stood the test of time. Most actors will never enjoy that privilege.
Disc extras: Available on Hulu.
Bottom Line: Brats is interesting in places but even at ninety-two minutes is feels belabored and self-absorbed. It may play for fans of the 1980s Brat Pack movies but the documentary doesn’t reveal much about them. Viewers might be better served by reading the original New York magazine article and David Blum’s 2024 follow up piece.
Episode: #1014 (September 22, 2024)