I saw this in the theater when it came out. Then I saw it this afternoon on streaming. I remember kind of liking this one as a teen, but still there was something about it that nagged at me through the years and convinced me not to go to any great trouble to see it again. Today I was reminded what that was: the characters are such unpleasant people. Yeesh. I'm glad I don't have friends or family like this.
The dad has his head in the sand and will do just about anything to prevent his only child from taking a brave risk to better herself. The boyfriend is a self-centered jerk and a quitter who drops out of medical school and semi-pro hockey in the first 30 minutes of the film, and who also seems to resent Lexie's potential to succeed in life, the same potential he himself has squandered twice already. And the ice rink owner is a shrieking harpy. I don't think too many ice rink owners are Care Bear types, really, but Beulah did altogether too much screaming and cussing. (Funny thing: from seeing the film in the theater, I remembered Colleen Dewhurst as "the fat lady"... guess what? 35 years later I see she wasn't at all fat. She was a middle-aged woman. She looked... ahem... rather like I do now. "Stupid" clothes and all.) The one exception to the unpleasantness is Lexie herself; I thought Lynn-Holly Johnson played her very believably, with great exuberance while skating and credible depression after the accident. She was a joy to watch on the ice... I'm not a sports or skating fan at all, but I streamed it twice just to watch her skate. Wow. The film would have been a total zero without her.
There are confusing plot issues: what about that boyfriend of Lexie's new trainer, who not only gravitates from the trainer to Lexie herself, but the trainer doesn't seem to care or even notice? And continuity issues: towards the end, see Tom Skerritt on the pond wearing boots, then skates, then boots again, while helping Lexie regain her skating ability. And as I said, just too much nastiness between the characters: okay, I get that Robbie Benson (who is in serious need of an eyebrow waxing) wants Lexie not to feel sorry for herself, but the way he screams "Shut up!" at her when she asks for help getting up is really not going to help matters any.
I wouldn't have bothered with this one again if not for Lynn-Holly Johnson; she made the whole film and she was a joy to watch. If I had a flower, I'd throw it.
The dad has his head in the sand and will do just about anything to prevent his only child from taking a brave risk to better herself. The boyfriend is a self-centered jerk and a quitter who drops out of medical school and semi-pro hockey in the first 30 minutes of the film, and who also seems to resent Lexie's potential to succeed in life, the same potential he himself has squandered twice already. And the ice rink owner is a shrieking harpy. I don't think too many ice rink owners are Care Bear types, really, but Beulah did altogether too much screaming and cussing. (Funny thing: from seeing the film in the theater, I remembered Colleen Dewhurst as "the fat lady"... guess what? 35 years later I see she wasn't at all fat. She was a middle-aged woman. She looked... ahem... rather like I do now. "Stupid" clothes and all.) The one exception to the unpleasantness is Lexie herself; I thought Lynn-Holly Johnson played her very believably, with great exuberance while skating and credible depression after the accident. She was a joy to watch on the ice... I'm not a sports or skating fan at all, but I streamed it twice just to watch her skate. Wow. The film would have been a total zero without her.
There are confusing plot issues: what about that boyfriend of Lexie's new trainer, who not only gravitates from the trainer to Lexie herself, but the trainer doesn't seem to care or even notice? And continuity issues: towards the end, see Tom Skerritt on the pond wearing boots, then skates, then boots again, while helping Lexie regain her skating ability. And as I said, just too much nastiness between the characters: okay, I get that Robbie Benson (who is in serious need of an eyebrow waxing) wants Lexie not to feel sorry for herself, but the way he screams "Shut up!" at her when she asks for help getting up is really not going to help matters any.
I wouldn't have bothered with this one again if not for Lynn-Holly Johnson; she made the whole film and she was a joy to watch. If I had a flower, I'd throw it.