The Last American Virgin

The Last American Virgin
by Boaz Davidson

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DVD Reviews of The Last American Virgin

DVD Review: The most underrated, overlooked & important 80's teen flick
Summary: 4 Stars

This is the film that should've made Lawrence Monoson a major star. He plays the lead, Gary, who is the most vulnerable, likable, and sweetest male character of the '80's teen genre. His two best friends, Rick and David always want to get laid, but Gary would rather wait to lose his virginity to someone he loves.

He falls in love with the new girl in school, Karen, who rejects him for his chiseled, misogynistic best friend, Rick. No matter how hard Gary tries to win over Karen, he cannot get her to budge. He takes this personally as if there's some awful character flaw he possesses, and tries harder. He is so figuratively and literally blinded by love and her beauty that he cannot see her for what she is: a totally superficial, ungrateful, and manipulative ice princess. He never stops to consider, even once, that Karen is the one with the problem, not him.

The film shows plenty of sex, but not just for the hell of it. It shows the consequences that arose from sexual irresponsibility in the early '80's, such as crabs (scenes surrounding this that could've been tasteless, but were downright hilarious) and abortion.

When Rick finds out Karen's pregnant, he no longer wants anything to do with her and abandons her to deal with the problem by herself while he goes on a ski trip with his friends and already, on the way to the slopes, is shacking up with some other girl.

Gary gets up the money for Karen's abortion, allows her to recover at his grandmother's house, and waits on her hand and foot. This could've been the perfect opportunity for Gary to take advantage of Karen (It's just the two of them), but he's not like that. He even pulls her shirt down over her midriff when she's sleeping (It had been hiked up when she was reading a magazine). Gary professes his love to her, they kiss, all is good & then...

BAM! It's the infamous ending that everyone whines about. It's also the most realistic, shocking, and original ending you'll ever see in an '80's teen flick. She's back in the arms of Rick, the guy who cheated on her with a prostitute, a nympho, and the girl on the ski trip. He never really loved her or cared about her and just pretended to in order to take her virginity. Then he tells her to "Get the f@#$ out" and "You're embarassing the s@#% out of me. Split!" when she tells him she's pregnant.

What's so disturbing and stomach-churning about this ending is that after how awful he treated her, she still goes back to him. This also brings up the age-old question "Why do women always fall for the a@#holes?" Karen's self-esteem and psychological stability are seriously lacking if she's willing to put up with Rick. This film should be shown not only in every film class, but every women's studies class, as well.

We've been conditioned to expect the happy Hollywood ending at the end of every film and when we don't get it, we're outraged. But I personally get outraged by the happy endings that are fake, unrealistic, and suddenly make the mean people nice. LAV is uncompromising in its characters. Karen's callous and the film sees to it that she's callous to the bitter end. Besides, did you really want Gary ending up with her? He could do so much better.

Like I said, Lawrence Monoson does a great job in the film. He's a master at facial expressions (e.g. his slack-jawed gaze when he sees Karen for the very first time and his desperate, teary-eyed look from the burning of the crabs). He's completely at ease in front of the camera. He can transform a bright smile to a look of horror or a hearfelt look into tears and then crying at the drop of a hat. It's amazing to watch and extremely impressive for a young person in their very first film.

I'm very surprised that some of the most well-known film critics like Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert didn't find this film important enough to even review.

What's refreshing about LAV is that Gary and David don't praise Rick for getting so much action with the women. David looks bored by it and Gary looks overwhelmed and disturbed by his behavior in such scenes.

The film, of course, is not perfect. The acting is bad in a couple of scenes and in a few scenes it magically and inexplicably turns from day to night and vice-versa.

The soundtrack is great and extremely hard to find. Sometimes you can find a burned copy of it on ebay for around $20 or more and DON'T, I repeat, DON'T purchase the film on VHS. The cameraman overexposed the film and in too many of the scenes, the light reflects off the characters, giving them a halo effect, and thus makes the picture quality look blurry.

The trailer is kind of odd at the end of the DVD. It contains a lot of scenes that weren't even in the film. Strange.

Description of The Last American Virgin