One of the the worst movies ever made is also one of my favorite childhood films: Troop Beverly Hills. My brother and I saw it in the theaters (we were allowed to see any movie rated ‘PG’ at that time, and there weren’t a great many Oscar-worthy works with such family-friendly ratings). It was the 80’s, and that decade permeated this very-dated film. I had the luck to catch it airing on television the other night, and revisiting it made me realize how genius it was (in the worst, tackiest ways possible).
Every ethnic stereotype is present, including a Filipino dictator and his shoe-loving wife, as well as the original Rosario character from ‘Will & Grace’ (Shelley Morrison herself as the maid Rosa). Shelley Long is at her most grating but still slightly endearing self here, portraying a recent divorcée trying to lead a troop of spoiled Beverly Hills girls to a Girl-Scout-lite wilderness jamboree.
The very things that make the movie so insufferable are also the ones that lend it such an 80’s brilliance. First and foremost among these is the fashion. Ms. Long wears a parade of outfits that define the brash garish excess of the era, and on that recent viewing I was in shock by how impressive they were. Awful, yes. Ridiculous, most definitely. But beautiful in a Showgirls kind of terrible way. For that reason alone, it’s worth another look.
My brother has always held a deeper affection for nostalgia than me, but every now and then I’ll catch something like this on television and be transported to a more innocent time. The year of its release – 1989 – was one of the last years where things were so simple and safe. It was one of the last years of my childhood. The lightweight frivolity of the movie was indicative of where we were so lucky to be. Only whimsical wisps of that time remain, and only when I lose myself of modern-day worries and concerns. At such times, in a fur-trimmed robe perhaps, an asymmetrical cocktail dress bustle, or doing a quick version of the ‘Freddie’, I remember the carefree days of our youth.
I gave a DVD of ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ (what a thrill!) to my brother a few Christmases ago. If he still has it we may have to make a sleepover of it (even if it’s not in a Hilton). It’s time for a new generation of Ilagan kids to take up the Kumbaya call.
