‘Hiding Out’ 4K UHD Blu-ray (review)

Kino Lorber

Before Jon Cryer was the straight man to Charlie Sheen and Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men, he played one of the most famous roles in John Hughes history, the quirky and loveable Duckie Dale in Pretty in Pink.

To this day, if the word “prom” comes up in my house, my wife will exclaim, “What about PROM Blane!?!”

Jon Cryer’s breakout role led to a long and fairly recognizable career in film and TV.  In fact, he was so big coming off Pretty in Pink the posters for Hiding Out gave him top billing.

The film was not Hiding Out.

It was “John Cryer is Hiding Out.”

This film was full of firsts.

First time headlining a film for Cryer. First time writer Joe Menosky, who went on to have a successful science fiction writing career. It was also director Bob Giraldi’s feature debut. Giraldi is a well known music video and video short director, but never really caught on as a feature director.

The film did just over $7 million at the box office on a $7 million budget which should tell you all you need to know about the middling reaction of leading man Jon Cryer. It certainly didn’t help that the cliché ridden film was extremely uninspired.

Cryer played Andrew Morenski, a successful, Maserati driving stockbroker, who was slated to testify for the prosecution in a securities fraud case. The other witnesses begin to turn up dead and Andrew decides to shave off the fakest beard in the history of film, dye his hair and hide out as a high school student at his cousin’s high school.

Hilarity ensues, except it really doesn’t.

Hiding Out isn’t really a crime thriller and it isn’t a particularly funny comedy.  But it is dated.

While hiding, Cryer sort of gets into a relationship with high school student Annabeth Gish. The film does manage to keep the inappropriate creep factor to a minimum, but it’s still there in the background as Cryer’s character is around 30 and Gish’s character is, you know, in high school.

Gish is a perfect 1980s pretty high schooler and her long and recognizable career is a product of her tremendous acting ability and ageless beauty. This film really didn’t let her do much. If they entangled her more with Cryer, the creep factor would have gone up exponentially and she was relegated to little more than a pretty prop at times. Less than a year later, Gish was a standout in director Donald Petrie’s Mystic Pizza, playing the sensible Kat, sister to the wild Daisy (Julia Roberts).

The one true highlight of the film was Andrew’s cousin, played by one of the most recognizable actors of the late 70s and 80s, Keith Coogan. If you needed a floppy haired, cute, but not handsome, child in your production, Coogan was your man. His resume includes guest star appearances on dozens of classic television series.

Coogan’s film appearances made him king of the video store rentals co-starring opposite Elisabeth Shue in Adventures in Babysitting and Christina Applegate in Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead. In Hiding Out, his regular screen presence as the naive, affable, misfit made him the perfect sidekick for Cryer in a decidedly imperfect film.

Mercifully the plot resolves and the cliché baddies get what’s coming to them. The film isn’t particularly long, but it’s so formulaic it’s almost instantly forgettable.  The best part of the entire film is  the soundtrack, with four songs charting in the United States.

Extras include two audio commentaries, new interviews with both Cryer and Gish, and the theatrical trailer.

If you’re Gen X and have fond memories John Hughes movies or teen comedies, Hiding Out is among the forgettable. Jon Cryer and Annabeth Gish are trying, but the material fails to inspire, and the only laughs come courtesy of Keith Coogan.

Unfortunately this viewing didn’t evoke any nostalgic feelings, but it did remind me that there are dozens of better 80s comedies worth revisiting.  Hiding Out, however, is a pass.