She's Out of Control
Encyclopedia
She's Out of Control is an independent American
1989
coming of age
comedy film
starring Tony Danza
, Ami Dolenz
and Catherine Hicks
. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri
. The film was marketed with the tagline "Girls go wild, boys go crazy, and dads go nuts!" The film was shot as "Daddy's Little Girl."
producer from California
who lives with his two daughters, Katie (Dolenz) and Bonnie (Laura Mooney). When his oldest daughter (Katie) turns 15, she suggests to her father that's it's time for her to start looking more grown-up. For the last 14 years, Katie had been wearing dowdy clothes, braces, and thick glasses
and hanging around with Richard, her next-door neighbor and long-time boyfriend (who had won Doug's approval); but when Doug leaves on a business trip, Katie transforms herself, along with the help of Doug's fiancée Janet Pearson (Hicks), into a knockout beauty.
When Doug returns, he is shocked to find boys from every walk of life interested in dating Katie. Janet suggests that Doug needs psychiatric help when his obsession with Katie and her boyfriends reaches extreme limits. Throughout the latter half of the film, Katie maintains three boyfriends, two of whom she eventually stops dating. At the end of the film, Katie takes a class trip to Europe and reunites with Richard again – at which point Bonnie, her younger tomboy sister, begins her own dating spree.
When famous Chicago film critics Roger Ebert
and Gene Siskel
reviewed the film on their program Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, Siskel revealed that after viewing the film, he became so depressed that he considered quitting his job as a movie critic, but he saw the film Say Anything... on the same day, a film he liked very much and he declared that "all was right with the world, I'm still on the job." Ebert gave the film the rare zero stars rating on his written review of the film, saying:
Leonard Maltin
also panned the film, stating that it was a "superficial expanded sitcom with Danza offering a one-note performance," concluding with "this one seems as if it was spit out of a computer."
The film was remade in Serbia
as We Are Not Angels 2.
in April 1989, was released on vinyl
, cassette
, and compact disc
. The track listing includes:
Other songs featured in the film that did not appear on the soundtrack:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
coming of age
Coming of age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Tony Danza
Tony Danza
Tony Danza is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards...
, Ami Dolenz
Ami Dolenz
Ami Dolenz is an American television and film actress and producer.- Early life and career :Born in Burbank, California into a show business family, Dolenz is the daughter of Micky Dolenz of the 1960s group the Monkees, and British television presenter Samantha Juste...
and Catherine Hicks
Catherine Hicks
Catherine Mary Hicks is an American stage, film, television actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Annie Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven and as Karen Barclay in Child's Play.-Personal life:...
. The original music score was composed by Alan Silvestri
Alan Silvestri
Alan Anthony Silvestri is an American film composer and conductor.-Career:Silvestri is best known for his collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored Romancing the Stone , the Back to the Future trilogy , Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Death Becomes Her , Forrest Gump , Contact ,...
. The film was marketed with the tagline "Girls go wild, boys go crazy, and dads go nuts!" The film was shot as "Daddy's Little Girl."
Plot
Widower Doug Simpson (Danza) is a radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
producer from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
who lives with his two daughters, Katie (Dolenz) and Bonnie (Laura Mooney). When his oldest daughter (Katie) turns 15, she suggests to her father that's it's time for her to start looking more grown-up. For the last 14 years, Katie had been wearing dowdy clothes, braces, and thick glasses
Glasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
and hanging around with Richard, her next-door neighbor and long-time boyfriend (who had won Doug's approval); but when Doug leaves on a business trip, Katie transforms herself, along with the help of Doug's fiancée Janet Pearson (Hicks), into a knockout beauty.
When Doug returns, he is shocked to find boys from every walk of life interested in dating Katie. Janet suggests that Doug needs psychiatric help when his obsession with Katie and her boyfriends reaches extreme limits. Throughout the latter half of the film, Katie maintains three boyfriends, two of whom she eventually stops dating. At the end of the film, Katie takes a class trip to Europe and reunites with Richard again – at which point Bonnie, her younger tomboy sister, begins her own dating spree.
Cast
- Tony DanzaTony DanzaTony Danza is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards...
as Doug Simpson - Ami DolenzAmi DolenzAmi Dolenz is an American television and film actress and producer.- Early life and career :Born in Burbank, California into a show business family, Dolenz is the daughter of Micky Dolenz of the 1960s group the Monkees, and British television presenter Samantha Juste...
as Katie Simpson - Laura Mooney as Bonnie Simpson
- Catherine HicksCatherine HicksCatherine Mary Hicks is an American stage, film, television actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Annie Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven and as Karen Barclay in Child's Play.-Personal life:...
as Janet Pearson - Wallace ShawnWallace ShawnWallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
as Dr. Fishbinder - Derek McGrathDerek McGrathDerek McGrath is a Canadian actor.He is known for his roles in Cheers as "Andy-Andy" Schroeder , Dr. Benjamin Jeffcoate in My Secret Identity, Crewman Chell in Star Trek: Voyager, and as Dr. Derek Hebert in Doc...
as Jeff Robbins - Lance Wilson-White as Richard
- Dana AshbrookDana AshbrookDana V. Ashbrook is an American actor, perhaps best known for playing Bobby Briggs on the cult TV series Twin Peaks and its 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.-Personal life:...
as Joey - Matthew PerryMatthew Perry (actor)Matthew Langford Perry is a Canadian-American actor and comedian, best known for his Emmy-nominated role as Chandler Bing on the popular, long-running NBC television sitcom Friends...
as Timothy (credited as Matthew L. Perry) - Dick O'Neill as Chuck Pearson
- Dustin DiamondDustin DiamondDustin Neil Diamond is an American actor, musician, director, and stand-up comedian best known for his role as Samuel "Screech" Powers in the television shows Saved by the Bell, Good Morning, Miss Bliss, Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class.-Career:Diamond's...
as Beach Boy - Oliver MuirheadOliver MuirheadOliver Muirhead is an English character actor known for often portraying pompous country gentlemen. In 1986, he also directed the musical pantomime A Christmas Held Captive. In addition to acting, Muirhead has also lent his voice to various animated series such as P.J...
as Nigel
Critical response
Based on 15 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 7%.When famous Chicago film critics Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
and Gene Siskel
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies from 1975 until his death....
reviewed the film on their program Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, Siskel revealed that after viewing the film, he became so depressed that he considered quitting his job as a movie critic, but he saw the film Say Anything... on the same day, a film he liked very much and he declared that "all was right with the world, I'm still on the job." Ebert gave the film the rare zero stars rating on his written review of the film, saying:
What planet did the makers of this film come from? What assumptions do they have about the purpose and quality of life? I ask because She's Out of Control is simultaneously so bizarre and so banal that it's a first: the first movie fabricated entirely from sitcom cliches and plastic lifestyles, without reference to any known plane of reality.
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
also panned the film, stating that it was a "superficial expanded sitcom with Danza offering a one-note performance," concluding with "this one seems as if it was spit out of a computer."
The film was remade in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
as We Are Not Angels 2.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack, distributed by MCA RecordsMCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
in April 1989, was released on vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, and compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
. The track listing includes:
- "Where's the Fire" – Troy Hinton
- "You Should Be Loving Me" – Brenda K. StarrBrenda K. StarrBrenda K. Starr is an American singer-songwriter. She is well known originally in dance-pop, but now mostly in salsa-based music...
- "Concentration" – Phil ThornalleyPhil ThornalleyPhil Thornalley is a songwriter-producer who has worked in the music industry since 1978. He is perhaps best known for co-writing the song "Torn" which Natalie Imbruglia later covered to great success for her 1997 debut album, Left of the Middle...
- "The Loneliest Heart" – Boys Club
- "Hunger of Love" – Harold FaltermeyerHarold FaltermeyerHarold Faltermeyer is a German musician, keyboardist, composer and record producer.He is recognized as one of the composers/producers who best captured the zeitgeist of 1980s synth-pop in film scores...
- "KHEY-FM Radio Sweeper" – Jim LaddJim LaddJim Ladd , an American disc jockey, radio producer and writer, is one of the few notable remaining freeform rock DJs in United States commercial radio.- Radio show style :...
- "Winning Side" – Oingo BoingoOingo BoingoOingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group...
- "Daddy's Little Girl" – Brian WilsonBrian WilsonBrian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
- "Venus"Venus (Frankie Avalon song)"Venus" is the name of a song written by Ed Marshall and Peter DeAngelis. The most successful and well-known recording of it was done by Frankie Avalon and released in 1959 . It became Avalon's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it spent five weeks atop the survey. The song...
– Frankie AvalonFrankie AvalonFrankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.-Career:By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints... - "You Really Got MeYou Really Got Me"You Really Got Me" is a rock song written by Ray Davies and performed by his band, The Kinks. It was released on 4th August 1964 as the group's third single, and reached Number 1 on the UK singles chart the next month, remaining for two weeks...
" – The KinksThe KinksThe Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a... - "Feel the Shake" – JetboyJetboyJetboy is a fictional character from the Wild Cards book series. He appeared in the short story "Thirty Minutes Over Broadway!" by Howard Waldrop, but is referenced throughout the Wild Cards series. Jetboy is based on pulp magazine and Golden Age "air ace" characters, particularly Airboy...
Other songs featured in the film that did not appear on the soundtrack:
- Angel Baby – Beth AndersonBeth Anderson (singer)Beth Anderson is an American singer and voice actress.Anderson's first notable release was the song Dance Dance Dance which appeared in the 1983 film Scarface as well as on its soundtrack. It also appeared on the US 7" version of Debbie Harry's single Rush Rush, another song from the Scarface...
- Secret Agent ManSecret Agent Man (song)"Secret Agent Man" is a song written by Steve Barri and P. F. Sloan. The most famous recording of the song was made by Johnny Rivers for the opening titles of the American broadcast of the British spy series Danger Man, which aired in the U.S. as "Secret Agent" from 1964 to 1966...
– Johnny RiversJohnny RiversJohnny Rivers is an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. His styles include folk songs, blues, and revivals of old-time rock 'n' roll songs and some original material...