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McCarthy looks for fellow Brat Pack graduates in Brats to have frank talks with about their cherished and not-so-fond recollections connected to the label. Although the Brat Pack craze elevated the close-knit group of '80s performers to unprecedented levels of popularity, their all-defining reputation isn't always entirely favorable. McCarthy, who hadn't seen some of his friends and old co-stars in decades, observes that the Brat Pack affiliation is "like an octopus" — at times the tentacles offer a good hug, but occasionally it can feel more restrictive (via Entertainment Tonight).
Judd Nelson doesn't show up in the movie since he was difficult to find; apparently, she leads a quiet life and doesn't make herself available for Hollywood ventures. Ringwald has been more forthcoming about her thoughts on the Brat Pack label. Originally, the Sixteen Candles actor known as the Brat Pack labeled the Brat Pack title "limiting," particularly in reference to trying on more adult roles. McCarthy notes in Brats that he did ask Molly Ringwald to come to the film, and although she stated she would consider speaking, the director soon realized Ringwald was more focused in "looking forward."
From Demi Moore and Ally Sheedy to Rob Lowe, the Brat Pack performers made repeated appearances redefining the kinds of films that might become Hollywood blockbusters. On the flip side, they were sometimes "packed" together in a way that, in retrospect especially, obviously feels reductive to some of its members. Although Ringwald and Nelson don't seem to talk about their present opinions on the Brat Pack moniker, they can be seen throughout Brats in archive footage and sequences from some of the most iconic Brat Pack films, therefore both Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson are still rather visible in the documentary.
Beginning June 13, 2024, Brats streams only on Hulu.
Director Andrew Mccarthy, a Brat Pack member himself, managed to gather most of the group members for his documentary, the appropriately titled Brats; two performers, Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson, are conspicuously absent. The Brat Pack, a play on the unofficial group of '50s and '60s artists known as the Rat Pack, refers to actors who featured together in a run of coming-of- age films in the 1980s. So-called "core" Brat Pack members McCarthy, Ringwald, and Nelson showed up in John Hughes's The Breakfast Club and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire ensembles.
From Pretty in Pink to Blue City, the Brat Pack-starring films helped to define '80s Hollywood and, for a long time, the actors themselves. For artists like McCarthy, a lapsed Brat Pack membership still defines a lot. The actor-turned-director released Brat: An '80s Story, a memoir about the event a few years ago. Reiterating portions of McCarthy's memoir, the Hulu documentary Brats broadens its point of view to include additional Brat Pack alumni like Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy, therefore raising many questions about why Ringwald and Nelson don't show up in the movie.
Though St. Elmo's Fire was not the first movie to include Brat Pack members, it had a more coherent feel. Though the two major celebrities absent from the ensemble did not feature in the movie, the characters in the film were tightly bonded. Though they did not work on the film, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall were connected with the Brat Pack.
Hall and Ringwald had been connected to St. Elmo's Fire. Ringwald was supposed to be playing Dale, who Ally Sheedy eventually performed. Originally, Hall was supposed to be Kevin's actor as well. Ringwald has not had an interview for the film; Hall has.
The documentary presents honest interviews with a great range of people together with moving stories. The movie has gotten compliments for its thorough examination of the challenges and pleasures of being a military child as well as for its portrayal of the unique points of view of the military child.
Source: Tonight's Entertainment