The film's somewhat safe and gentle approach harbours a dark underbelly. Hermaphrodite or inter-sexuality tale of a boy who used to be a girl until the age of 14, who is now lusted after by her once best female friend, not to mention Alfie. A guy in a souped-up wheelchair who is a self confessed "faggot" ( his words, not mine ) who spends the entire movie suppressing his apparent dark and "unnatural" feelings for the boy/girl Willy/Milly, who in turn has to spend the latter part of the movie fending off the town floozy's attentions and affections because her hard-man brother seemingly has incestuous interests and a desire to maim all who dare touch her! PHEW! Not to mention a father who is suddenly up for paying attention to his new found boy and overcompensates for his lost years as a father by turning poor Milly into lean mean fighting machine Willy. And also the occasional pop-up here and there of a very young and creepy Seth Green who seems to have the ability to trade in magical wares, towed around in a little cart behind him like some kind of strange dwarf trader from another time and place! Think Twin Peaks and you get that kind of vibe from him. OK i'm sure there's some kind of metaphor in there that i don't get, but i hope there isn't and that it's just odd for the sake of being odd. That would be much cooler! If you haven't guessed already, I. Love. This. Film. And if you don't now after reading my initial description then shame on you. OK, i confess that i may have painted a somewhat NC-17 or X rated David Lynch-ian styled fable that will turn most audiences away in disgust at the subject matter at hand...BUT, this is actually pretty neat harmless fun from start to finish, bar a few swear words here and there and they're only there to serve a point, not just splashed around willy nilly ( bad pun intended, sorry ) Onto the plot which, even within the most forgiving of eyes, is utterly ridiculous. But for some reason, it matters not one jot. 14 year old frumpy teen Milly Niceman is feeling the heavy jackboot of masculine oppression within her household. Dad won't let her out late at night, boys are silly etc. That kind of world ending teen drama y'know. A keen astronomer, she has set up a telescope on the roof to help capture an upcoming eclipse or something. After fleeing a school party early due to being cripplingly shy around boys she breaks her binoculars, with cruel timing, ready for the big day of the eclipse. Her neighbourhood girlfriend has a little brother. This odd Seth Green played character who spends the opening credits buying and selling from yard sales. He offers her, alongside a new pair of conveniently powerful binocs, some kind of ancient Indian potion that makes a wish come true when blah blah blah etc. I can't give everything away no matter how much you may not care. Suffice to say, in the midst of raging teenage angst at the days events, Milly wishes she was someone else altogether. Now despite us many skeptics out there who may assume otherwise, this wish does indeed come true overnight! Hereon in, 80s highschool gags and delightfully odd parent clichés that probably didn't seem so old back then play out for a while. Of course. That's supposed to happen. It's a comedy after all. An 80s one at that. Thing is, it never becomes boring or really feel aged. The humour is bright and well intended. The acting is, for the most part, perfectly fine. The over the top bully parts are more fun than badly acted. It looks and sounds as 80s as those 80s brat-pack styled movies ever did ( it's 1986 what the hell did i expect? ) so that's a personal preference either way i guess. I reside with the feeling of yes. Yes i like that feel. It ends just the way you're expecting it to end, what with the boy thing not really working out, but not too badly!, as many friends are made along the way and many introspective dilemmas realized and overcome. Bullies be gone and another convenient potion brings balance back to the universe and everyone seems to get on as if nothing ever happened. Even the wheelchair bound love interest gets up and walks! Seriously, it's still great. The direction from Paul Schneider & editing from Michael R. Miller must help in no small way as the film moves at just the right pace to keep you constantly interested. There are no lulls here. It just chugs along smoothly and perfectly. One thing about this too is that it's pretty rare and not too easy to find. It has, to this date, no DVD release but you may be able to find an old VHS copy or an internet version, if you get my meaning ;) Please, if you can find it, give this film a chance despite all that i've mentioned because like many of those teen/brat-pack style movies from the US-of-A in the middle of the 80s it leaves you with a warm glow and a feeling that you've been joyfully entertained. No cynicism on display here. Just love, light hearted escapades and hermaphrodite homo-erotic crippled love. The ever so slightly edgy subject materials give it just that little something to stop it from being a sappy teen romance comedy. And for the record, Pamela Adlon might look frumpy as a girl but she makes a startlingly beautiful boy, lol ! I can see where the Alfie character was coming from actually ! I am a sick, sick man and i apologise from the pit of my bile ravaged stomach. 9 out of 10 stars from me.
Review of Willy/Milly
Willy/Milly
(1986)
Bizarre but actually delightful in that cheesy 80s way
8 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers