Smooth Talk (1985)
Overview
Connie, the fifteen-year-old black sheep of her family, finds her summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts, and innocent flirtations shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger.
Cast
Laura Dern
Connie Wyatt
Treat Williams
Arnold Friend
Mary Kay Place
Katherine Wyatt
Levon Helm
Harry Wyatt
Elizabeth Berridge
June Wyatt
Margaret Welsh
Laura Condon
William Ragsdale
Jeff
Joy Carlin
Laura's Mother
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Based on a short story by Joyce Carol Oates called "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", "Smooth Talk" stars Laura Dern as a bored and restless adolescent who thinks she's more in control of her sexual allure, and more capable of handling the attention she receives for it, than she is. In a deeply unsettling and slightly surreal scene, a hunky stranger (Treat Williams) comes calling for her, and she realizes that she's not as mature as she thinks. The film captures the same other-worldly quality of the short story (the scene with Treat Williams plays out almost like a feverish dream), while ably adapting it to the very different needs of a feature length film.
Dern gives a wonderful performance, one of many given by this underrated actress.
