Post by @80s.neons

The Pick-up Artist (1987) Robert Downey Jr. before Iron Man, before the comeback, before he became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Here he is as Jack Jericho, a fast-talking New Yorker who seems to have a line for every woman he meets. Then he meets Randy, played by Molly Ringwald, and suddenly all that confidence does not work quite as easily anymore. That is what makes The Pick-up Artist more interesting than its title suggests. It starts like a lightweight dating comedy, but underneath it there is a slightly sadder story about loneliness, family problems and someone realizing that charm can only get you so far. 🎬 A nice piece of trivia: the movie was directed by James Toback, and it came out during that very specific moment when Molly Ringwald was already strongly associated with 80s teen cinema, while Robert Downey Jr. was still only beginning to build his screen identity. Dennis Hopper also turns up as Randy’s troubled father, which gives the film a much stranger and more serious edge than you might expect from the first twenty minutes. And then there is New York itself. Diners, sidewalks, crowded streets, old cars and that slightly dirty late-80s Manhattan look that modern movies can never really recreate. The Pick-up Artist is not one of the decade’s biggest classics, but that is part of the appeal. It feels like finding an old movie on cable at midnight and wondering how you somehow missed it. #RobertDowneyJr #MollyRingwald #80sMovies #80s #TeenMovies