Directed by Howard Deutch | Written by John Hughes | Starring Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Lea Thompson, and a pair of diamond earrings more emotionally grounded than half the cast
Some Kind of Wonderful is the dark horse of the John Hughes Brat Pack canon—the one that trades country clubs and cheerleaders for garages, drums, and teen existential crises played out through unrequited love, bad boyfriends, and the kind of dramatic earring gifts that could bankrupt a teenager before senior year.
Released in 1987 and often overshadowed by Pretty in Pink (its spiritual twin, but with gender roles swapped), this Hughes-scripted, Deutch-directed high school love triangle somehow manages to be both sensitive and subversive—while still delivering the melodrama and Reagan-era teen angst we’ve come to expect from movies where no one seems to be in class, ever.
So buckle up and revisit a movie where love is measured in body piercings, rich boys get punched in the face, and the friend zone gets blown wide open with a drumstick and a smoldering stare.
Eric Stoltz: Sensitive Art Guy, Now With Slight Stubble
Eric Stoltz plays Keith Nelson, a blue-collar, art-obsessed loner who doesn’t just want the girl—he wants the moment. The slow dance. The kiss that changes everything. The Hollywood ending that makes his dad stop worrying he’s going to die penniless under a pile of sketchbooks.
Stoltz plays Keith with the emotional depth of a college poetry major who just discovered The Catcher in the Rye. He’s sweet, sensitive, and slightly insufferable in that “I sketched your soul” kind of way. But damned if he doesn’t sell the tortured everyman bit with real sincerity.
He’s also the kind of guy who drops his entire savings on diamond earrings for a girl he barely knows—which in the real world would get him a restraining order, but here? Romantic gold.
Mary Stuart Masterson: Drummer, Queen, and Patron Saint of the Friend-Zoned
As Watts, Masterson delivers one of the most iconic “best friend secretly in love with the guy” performances of the ‘80s—equal parts sarcasm, smudged eyeliner, and longing glances over cymbals.
She drives a tow truck. She drums like she’s fighting off demons. And she looks at Keith like he’s the last bag of Hot Cheetos at a sleepover. But of course, Keith doesn’t notice because he’s too busy pining after Lea Thompson’s rich girl persona, which proves that even the most emotionally literate men can still be complete morons.
Watts is the heart of the movie. The pulse. The eye roll. The person you want to hug and tell, “You deserve better than this ginger Van Gogh wannabe, but fine, follow your heart and the earring subplot.”
Lea Thompson: The Popular Girl Who Has Regrets and Nice Hair
Thompson plays Amanda Jones, the school’s resident bombshell who secretly hates her social status and rich jerk boyfriend. She’s the pretty girl who actually has depth, which in John Hughes world means she reads a book once and doesn’t enjoy parties that much anymore.
Amanda is caught in the limbo between who people think she is and who she actually wants to be, and Thompson plays it with more vulnerability than the character really deserves. Still, you kind of root for her—especially when she realizes her worth isn’t measured in hallway stares or the size of a guy’s Porsche.
And let’s be honest, anyone who politely returns diamond earrings is already a better person than 99% of humanity.
Craig Sheffer: Rich Boyfriend, Human Punching Bag
Craig Sheffer plays Hardy Jenns, a human can of Axe body spray who oozes arrogance and drinks privilege for breakfast. He’s that guy in high school who quotes Ayn Rand, but only because he thinks it makes him mysterious.
Every time Hardy’s on screen, you want him to get punched. And eventually, he does get punched. It’s glorious. It’s earned. It’s cinematic catharsis.
The Romance: Because Nothing Says Love Like Emotional Torture
The emotional core of Some Kind of Wonderful isn’t just about who ends up with whom—it’s about timing, perception, and how many times you can misread a situation before someone throws a drumstick at your head.
It’s angsty, sure. But it’s also refreshingly grounded. There’s no makeover montage, no magical transformation. Just real feelings, real hurt, and a final act where everyone gets just a little more honest.
And when Keith finally realizes the girl he should’ve been paying attention to was literally banging drums in the garage next to him the entire time? That’s Hughes magic. Stupid, wonderful magic.
The Dialogue: Hughes at His Sharpest and Most Moody
The script is classic Hughes: witty, emotionally charged, and sprinkled with existential teen observations like “It doesn’t matter what you do, just that you do it with conviction,” which is basically teen code for “I drew a sad picture of you and now I’m in love.”
Every character talks like they’re two seconds away from writing lyrics for The Smiths, and somehow that works. The angst feels earned. The one-liners don’t feel forced. And even when the melodrama hits a 10, you’re kind of here for it.
Final Verdict: A Drumbeat of Feels with Just the Right Amount of Eyeliner
Some Kind of Wonderful may not be as iconic as The Breakfast Club or as crowd-pleasing as Ferris Bueller, but it hits different. It’s moody, heartfelt, and just a little bit punk. It’s the misfit kid of the Hughes family—forgotten by some, adored by those who know what it’s like to stare at someone from across the locker hallway and wonder if they’ll ever see you the way you see them.
It’s romantic. It’s bittersweet. And it features the greatest use of earrings as a romantic gesture in cinematic history.
Rating: 8/10 — Some kind of wonderful, indeed. Especially if you like your teen love stories with drum solos, heartbreak, and just a hint of eyeliner-fueled vengeance.
