I must admit that the subject matter more than left me a little uneasy, two teenage girls in a bet to determine who would be "deflowered" first while attending summer camp, but Kristy McNichol is so damn good in her role as Angel that the movie, LITTLE DARLINGS earned brownie points with me for just that. Tatum O'Neal has the flashy name on the poster, and seems to be the ideal person to take a crap on, but I think she fulfilled the requirements of the role of pampered princess, with eyes for handsome Armande Asante, one the camp counselors. Matt Dillon is a prick as always, annoyed at Angel's reservations towards putting out, considering himself quite the lothario. I think the intention with him was to show that it's all external toughness, for show, while he's actually a vulnerable kid on the inside. Whatever your sentiments, I found him to be a rude jerk, with a rather crude personality. Anyway, McNichol has these two excellent scenes, so authentic and real, her feelings after having sex, losing her virginity, and finding that this supposedly grand event wasn't so precious or special, and the superb "admission" where she informs Ferris(O'Neal)that she actually did "forfeit her innocence" to Randy(Dillon). There's so much presented to us, the conflicts and inner turmoil, in how McNichol handles Randy's frustrations in her "teasing him" before eventually succumbing to the pressure, that I had to applaud such work from a young actress who seemed to channel the exact feelings many teenage girls face when going through the hormonal stage of adolescence into adulthood. There are summer camp clichés apparent, such as a food fight, infighting between girls, and sex talk. If it's true that O'Neal had her pick of role to play, I'm tickled pink she chose Ferris and McNichol got the part of Angel..Ferris is more surface stereotype while Angel has various levels to her that evolve over course of the film.
Review of Little Darlings
