Director: Paul Schneider
Writers: Andrew Guerdat, Steve Kreinberg
Stars: Alyssa Milano, Christina Applegate, Tempestt Bledsoe and Brian Bloom
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 23 October 1988 (USA)
Shelley Sheridan (Alyssa Milano) and her jock-boyfriend Kevin McCrea (Brian
Bloom) are Herbert Hoover High's most popular students. When she refuses to
sleep with him, they break up shortly before their senior prom and are forced to
find new dates on borrowed time. Everyone assumes Shelley will find a new
boyfriend in no time; when she can't, Shelley gets scared. She lies to her
friends that she's going to a frat party. She avoids the crowd by visiting the
town cinema to watch an old horror movie. There she runs into school geek Dan
Lefcourt (Chris Young). Dan is avoiding his father (Alan Thicke), who thinks Dan
has a good social status in high school. Ostensibly using him so she won't run
into her friends, Shelley soon discovers Dan is a really nice guy.
When one of his friends claims he's slept with an unpopular girl, Jock Kevin,
who is determined to "do it" after prom, decides to invite Angela Strull (Tracey
Gold) to prom. While Angela is delighted with having Kevin as her date, her
friend Margaret (Tempestt Bledsoe) doesn't trust it at all. Not only does Kevin
have to convince Margaret he is serious, he discovers that Angela's
overprotecting pharmacist-father Ed (Kelsey Grammer) - the primary reason for
her low social status - is impossible to deal with. He chases the two
"lovebirds" all night, eventually getting arrested for his trouble.
Meanwhile, the beautiful but obnoxious Patrice Johnson (Christina Applegate) is
confident she'll be named prom queen. To that end, she's arranged for an
all-night celebration with her boyfriend Roger (Matthew Perry), whom she is
having on a string. Her only competition is Shelley, who isn't there...but
Angela appears in Cinderella fashion, and she and Kevin are voted prom queen and
king. Kevin tries to get Angela into bed, but she resists and confronts him
about his real reasons for asking her; when he explains that he really does like
her now, she points out that he should have liked her first.
By the end of the film, at a popular diner where everyone conveniently shows up,
Angela has learned that her parents had to get married because they had
conceived her while they were high school students; confident after her night as
prom queen, she informs them she's going to fashion school rather than Bible
college. Kevin ends his night without sex but defends Angela's honor when his
friend makes a lewd comment. Shelley and Dan announce that they are going
steady, much to the shock of every senior in the room.