‘Career Opportunities’ 4K UHD Blu-ray (review)

Kino Lorber

Career Opportunities, or “How I Learned To Stop Whalleying and Love Jennifer Connelly” is a fascinating study of a film.

I would love to delve deep into why I think this film is a complete and utter mess but I’m afraid to.

First off let’s address the elephant in the room.

Of course, Career Opportunities is most well known for the iconic imagery of a young, ingenue Jennifer Connelly dressed in tight black jeans and an even tighter white wife-beater both roller skating around the floors of an empty, late-night Target with Frank Whalley, but maybe even more so for her slow rhythmic ride on a children’s coin operated hobby horse while sucking a lollipop while trying to seduce the two criminals played by real life Brothers McDermott, Dylan and Keiren.

Now that that is addressed, the very messy and pretty haphazard plot of this 83 minute hodgepodge of a movie barely qualifies as a cohesive film. The “plot” centers around serial liar and inconscient youth, Jim Dodge, who can’t hold down a job and after losing his umpteenth one his father gives him an ultimatum. Get and keep a job or be forced to move out of the family home and fend for himself in the big scary city of St. Louis just over the river.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned beautiful Josie McClellan, a seemingly perfect teenage girl who has everything, is definitely experiencing some troubles at home.

When Jim lands a night janitor job at the local Target, it is clear he is not challenged by the work and once again his mind wanders to more grandiose and creative things. He comes up with creative ideas on how to make the work go by faster and more efficiently. He then soon gets bored with that and it devolves into him basically screwing off like he always does most likely leading to the same path he always heads down to termination.

Enter Josie.

Earlier she is seen “trying” on garments and jewelry in the store with the intention of stealing them. She is now briefly glimpsed in the store by Jim as he roller skates around the store in his underwear wearing a wedding veil.

Slowly the two kids get to know each other and try and suss each other out. However, all this is interrupted by two pretty strange and bumbling thieves who possibly may have killed a convenience store clerk in a pre-titles sequence featuring some newspaper headlines. We are led to believe these two are possibly dangerous but really they are pretty dumb.

Through a series of quick sequences, one of course being the slow hobby horse ride by Connelly, the two kids outwit the master criminals, get away with a car full of stolen goods, leave the thieves trussed up for the local sheriff to find in the morning and for some reason stop in the center of town to show off to three kids on bikes, and finally drive off in a hired funeral limo. The End.

Yay?

Okay. So somewhere in this incredibly confusing atrocity was once a good film. I swear.

I originally saw this film in the theater my senior year of high school. I think the last time I saw this was about 20 years ago. It does not age well.

Two things that initially struck me during this watch through, my first in many decades. The first is that this film seems like someone took a lawn mower to the film in the editing room and the remaining 83 minutes is what was left after a serious hack job to the initial run time. There are so many bizarre cuts and untidy story jumps that I feel like there is a much longer cut we never got to see.

I read that writer/producer John Hughes had disavowed the film and wanted his name removed from it which for obvious reasons, the studio denied. We get glimpses of this longer, possibly better version in small throw away lines and scenes that probably weren’t originally so abrupt and may have had other scenes to give them context.

The second is that this film seems like the perfect ending of the heyday of the 80’s teen coming of age film that Hughes himself ushered in. It was the line in the sand for what would become a more realistic and grittier look at teen life that the indie genre of filmmaking would embrace. The likes of Richard Linklatter’s Slacker and Dazed and Confused, Kevin Smith’s Clerks and Mallrats and of course, Larry Clark’s seminal coming of age film Kids would represent a new more realistic look at growing up and youth in general.

But back to Career Opportunities.

Now why would a wealthy teen, who can most definitely afford them, try and steal clothes? What is an extremely creative person with a vivid imagination doing wasting his time as a late night janitor at Target?

Very good questions. Questions we kind of get answers through glimpses of dialogue and haphazardly thrown together scenes but ultimately the director and possibly Hughes fails to truly address in any meaningful way. I think the fault lies in the director because of Hughes insistence on having his name removed from the final product.

Whalley’s serial prevaricator and Connelly’s wealthy but troubled soul could have made for a great study of how two seemingly mismatched youths can find a common ground how and why each is the way they are. What might they possibly provide for each other with the introduction of the imminent dangers when the two criminals suddenly appear, shattering their idyllic isolated scenario they had created for themselves in the closed Target.

Connelly’s Josie is definitely being abused. Her father threatens to beat her after she uncomfortably lashes out in a sexual way with her father’s guests. This is revealed in an almost throwaway line that is delivered by Connelly like she was saying “I like butter on my toast.” This is a huge revelation that is basically swept under the rug. Through the rest of the film we find out she was definitely scared,i n danger, and trying to get away from her father. Even if that meant being arrested for shoplifting and going to jail. Now, whether he is actually sexually abusing her as well as physically and mentally abusing her is left unclear. But is it? And why isn’t this addressed more in this film?

Next, let’s talk about Frank Whaley’s character Jim Dodge. This is probably one of the most unlikable and annoying characters Hughes had ever written. A chronic liar and braggart, Dodge can’t hold down a job because of his constant daydreaming and fantastical concoctions that impede his ability to ever accomplish anything.

Perfectly played by Whaley, whose great charm and fast talking charisma is completely misused here. Jim, has a brilliant mind and is clearly underchallenged in his podunk Midwest town and really should be somewhere where his ability for grandiose storytelling could be an asset rather than a deterrent.

At the hour and twenty three minute run time this film has absolutely no time to develop at all. It is like watching an assembly cut of the first half of a bigger film.

I haven’t even delved into the insane scenes of Jim’s father unable to sleep after giving Jim his ultimatum to work or be ejected from the house and eating literally everything in the fridge while his wife lays awake in their empty bed or the scenes of Josie’s father driving around all night looking for his wayward child with the town sheriff. These are scenes from a totally different, more serious film, one I have a hard time connecting to the main plot taking place within the confines of the late night Target.

I’ll be fascinated to listen to the new audio commentary by Erik Childress, the founder of the Chicago Film Festival on the new Kino Lorber release.  Other extras include audio commentary from director Bryan Gordon, a recent interview with the brothers Mulroney, a featurette on Donald McAlpine, and a trailer.

If you are just watching this for the Jennifer Connelly scenes then I’d say skip this and watch them on YouTube. If you are watching it for the story then I say best of luck to you and let me know if you agree if you think there is a longer, better version out there. I’d Love to know your thoughts.