Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of the summer movie season, which took flight Friday with the long-delayed "Top Gun" sequel. But for those who can't make it to the theaters this weekend, here are five suggestions for some summertime viewing entertainment.
"One Crazy Summer" (1986) Rated PG
Nantucket, Massachusetts, is the setting for this summer comedy featuring a great cast of then young up-and-comers like John Cusack, Demi Moore and Jeremy Piven, to name a few. New England summertime shenanigans include Bobcat Goldthwait in a Godzilla outfit unintentionally wreaking havoc at a promotional party for a proposed condominium project, a revenge ploy that involves a lobster attack in the swimming pool of the antagonists' estate and a regatta involving a Ferrari engine.
"Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise" (1987) Rated PG-13
Fans of the 1984 original will find this a suitable sequel, if for nothing else than seeing their favorite characters move from the campus setting to sunny South Florida. The nerds of Lambda Lambda Lambda travel to a national fraternity convention in Fort Lauderdale, where they trade in their glasses for swimsuits and hit the beach in this toned-down follow-up to the R-rated first film. When it's all over, Ogre joins the nerds. Also, what young man didn't want to get his hands on Booger's "Who Farted?" shirt?
"Summer Rental" (1985) Rated PG
The late John Candy stars as an overworked Atlanta air traffic controller who takes his family on a summer vacation to Florida. But the family's summer vacation doesn't go as planned, as they're downgraded to a beachfront resort that wasn't exactly as advertised and face eviction from a greedy landlord (Richard Crenna) who accepts a challenge to let them stay there rent-free if Candy's character can beat him in an upcoming regatta. Filmed in St. Petersburg and St. Pete Beach, the movie also features Kerri Green ("The Goonies") and Joey Lawrence (NBC's "Silver Spoons") as Candy's kids and Rip Torn as a saloon keeper whose pirate-like ways make him the perfect person to help the family take down the reigning sailing champion.
"Summer School" (1987) Rated PG-13
Mark Harmon plays a high school gym teacher who is forced to teach remedial English class during the summer. The underachievers who join Harmon's class include Courtney Thorne-Smith (who would go on to star in the Fox television drama "Melrose Place") and a young Shawnee Smith. Kirstie Alley, who joined the cast of NBC's "Cheers" that same year, portrays the love interest whom Harmon's character must woo away from her vice principal boyfriend.
"Weekend at Bernie's" (1989) Rated PG-13
Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman star as a couple of New York financial grunts who try to win over their boss by discovering fraud within the company. Their boss, who's actually behind the fraud, invites them to his beach house to have them killed, but when they get there, he's already dead. Naturally, they don't want to spoil their weekend, so they spend it posing with the corpse in various outlandish scenarios to keep appearances – and to keep them alive.