A-

It's an incredibly fun movie.

I'm kind of a plot, characters, depth kind of guy, and on original look my thought was that I wanted more from these people and characters. However the more I look at it, the more I realize how much depth this movie based on one last night of partying really has. The joy of that youth phase, the bonds of friendship, the decisions of where to point your future. But adding to that, each individual character has different traits in their storylines that reveal an incredible amount about them just from seeing the night go on.

Dreyfuss' character is all about persistence. He sees the blonde woman and spends his night looking for her not because he is really interested in knowing her, but because of his persistence. He wants to prove this one thing to himself, that he can acheive what he wants. When he smiles on the phone even after being rejected, you know he got what he wanted regardless.

Smith as Toad struggles with measuring up to the rest of the guys; he's simply not cool. When he actually attracts a beautiful woman to hang out him; he realizes he can be cool. He took another step in his life and it makes him happy. I found this storyline to be the most entertaining, and the final scene between Toad and a fantastic Candy Clark as Debbie was fairly touching.

Perhaps the most tragic character is Le Mats as Johnny Milner. He's a brute, a racer, but when he gets stuck with the young girl riding around, he shows his soul. He almost makes a friend. There is something underneath. What makes it tragic is the Lucas' revelation at the end that this man dies within the next couple years. A good soul that never made it out of the starting gate. The one night he spent in that car was probably the most fufilling night and friendship he ever had.

Ron Howard and his girlfriend's storyline is the weakest and least interesting of the four, though Williams does a good job with the devotion and more emotionally involved than she let's on. Mainly I didn't like Steve, though I don't think we were meant to. I thought she should've left him like dirt.

Harrison Ford's small role is memorable because we all know THAT guy, heh. Wolfman Jack as the radio host is also a huge standout. "The Wolfman is everywhere" "Popsicles"

What I was really really impressed with as well, was Lucas' direction. It's not only good, it's magnificent. The way he strings together the movie with the interconnecting storylines, cars, music, themes, cinematography, actors, and adreneline, it is a masterclass and the film never slows down. It might even be one of the top 20 best directed movies I've ever seen. George Lucas surprised the hell out of me here, why didn't he use this talent to purely direct more films?

The screenplay was fairly awesome, again all just adding to the entertainment and sharp wit of the film. This has some great technicals behind it.

Is it a total classic? I don't know. It's still as much of a coming of age film as you'd expect, and it's far from flawless (see: Ron Howard storyline). Sometimes you ask for just a little more character development to this people as well, but regardless. I had a good time watching this one.

I didn't like it.

And how hilariously awful are the final thirty seconds? George Lucas spends the whole movie exploiting and waving warm nostalgia in the audience's face before suddenly spitting in our eyes.