Character Name: Nicolas Coppola

Okay. Wow. Let me take you on this whirlwind adventure through the early 80s and let it tear at you like it did me. This was a television pilot for a show that wasn’t picked up by any network. It runs at just over 48 minutes and completely plunges you into a sea of nostalgia and overacting.

The show opens in the messiest room ever which of course is on par with every average teenager’s room. Crispin Glover is the main character of this show and each character goes by their first name, meaning Crispin’s name in the show is Crispin. He introduces us to his friends showing a wall of pictures and this sets us off into the style of the show which is clips that go from character to character.

We first meet Nic, Crispin’s best friend. Nic is killing it with one armed push-ups switching arms each rep like a beast. His long shaggy dirty blonde hair matches the sand he is in and dear god, he is ripped beyond measure. We already get the feeling that he is intense and we are definitely not wrong. We flash over the rest of the crew with generic descriptions and some lighthearted commentary. The 80s fashion is in overdrive with blue jean jackets, cut off blue jean shorts, perms and all of your favorite 80s hairstyles. There are payphones, pinball games, arcade games, cassette tapes. Hell the Talking Heads are referenced at some point, too. There is a cover of Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar done in a skit about jeans just before Crispin gets friend-zoned.

The clips continue into minor dilemmas these seniors are going through, but we start at the convenience store and meet our pretty funny store clerk Jackie Mason. We are met in the store by a super high energy song and dance that just sort of develops with glass bottles the kids are wanting to sell. I have to say, the dances in this thing are premium solid gold gems of the time period. Our valiant Nic shows off his dance moves, but his Nic Cageyness is a bit muffled through the entirety of this show.

There are two very specific moments that stuck out to me that screamed “this is my Nic” and I’ll get to those now. He has two parts in the show where he is the focus. The first one is where he gives Kevin, the nerdy kid, some pointers on talking to girls which includes this gem of a quote, “I am the most beautiful man you have ever seen. My magnificent biceps drive you wild with desire.” And let me be the first to tell you, he is not wrong at all. Nic is a heartthrob in this thing; tall, ripped, high energy, a tad bit arrogant, but he is a senior in high school, so of course he is. During that quote, we get a tiny glimpse into what I am going to call his Nic Cageyness. In his right hand right at the beginning of delivering the line. I saw it. I smiled and thought, “There you are, Nic. So glad to see you.” The second part that really drove the Nic home for me was his monologue towards the end of the show. Phew. Gotta take a deep breath for this one.

While the show overall is very lighthearted and includes songs and dances that really pick up the tempo, Nic’s monologue slows us down and puts a mirror right in front of us. He’s walking on the beach and it looks like the sun is setting. This monologue takes us from happy go lucky to dear god I’m afraid of the draft. You have got to think of the time period for this one. It is 1981 and the Vietnam war ended just 6 short years before it was released. The memories of the draft and the fear with it are still fresh. He is worried that a war in El Salvador will trigger a draft and his college plans will be ruined because he will be called up to do his patriotic duty as he mentions his father called it. This topic hits you like a brick wall of realism and brings you right back down to earth before launching you back into the world of high school dances and cliché jokes. It is powerful and lingers in your mind like a shadow with a ninja grip on your good time. At this dance, Nic is dancing with a girl and mentions that he is going away to war in El Salvador, she pulls him closer and I smirk. Well played Nic.

The show ends with Crispin asking us to not shrug off today’s youth with the “oh, kids today” point of view. How odd that in our times of Millennial versus Boomer, this statement still rings true. This show is a clash of 80s nostalgia painted with general young adult mishaps and a sprinkle of doom. I really enjoyed it. I felt like I got to see the beginnings of the magnificent Nic Cage before he released his Cageyness. I am excited to take the next steps into the world of Cage and I hope you are too.

If you’d like to check out this masterpiece, you can see it for a limited time on YouTube at this link: Best of Times