Thank God It's Friday

by Madison Carter

Watch my cred drop as I enjoy a disco flick.

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Ah, the 1970s. I don’t remember them that well, and for good reason. First, I was only four by the time they ended. Secondly, I’m sure that should have been more cognizant in the era, I would have spent all my time laughing at everything until my brain cells died from lack of oxygen. For every person who thinks that the decade was all that, I present you with one of the time capsules that reminds us all that, indeed, disco sucked. And yet, no matter how much cheese this thing spews, there’s...and I can’t believe I’m about to say it…some enjoyment in all the cheddar.

When a local disco club hosts a dance contest and the Commodores during a single evening, a variety of characters show up for various reasons. There’s the teen girls looking to win the contest so they can afford tickets to a KISS contest. A bored wife talks her husband to take her on their anniversary to spice up their marriage. A girl looking for Mr. Right and a guy looking for Mrs. Right Now.

The jokes aren’t that great, the music sucks (even if Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” won the film an Oscar), and it often feels like a bell-bottomed retread of American Grafitti. That said, I was hypnotized by the garish colors and styles. Guys running around in gorilla costumes, Jeff Goldblum as a sleazeball and Terri Nunn proving she has more talent poking through her shirt than she showed in her Star Wars audition tape. In a strange way, Friday is the epitome of the era.

To make matters even worse for me, having set out to ridicule the film, the print (widescreen) used by Columbia Pictures here is fantastic. The colors are brilliant (did they really have flaming orange cars back then???). This is a barebones DVD release, without even a trailer for the film included. Oh well, at least there’s that much less for me to not hate as much as I wanted to.

If you grew up in this period, I have a feeling this will be a nice bit of déjà vu, or the bad kind, depending on how much you didn’t like living in it. It definitely has camp appeal.