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Secret Admirer More at IMDbPro »

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26 reviews in total

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14 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Fred Ward steals the show!, 29 June 1999

Author: Dan Grant (dan.grant@bell.ca) from Toronto, Ontario

Lieutenant Fimple ( Fred Ward ) has had a bad day. He thinks his wife is cheating on him so he follows her to a make out point. Then he goes to his mutual friends house and picks her up because the man that he thinks his wife is having an affair with is the woman's husband ( are you following me so far? ). He gets back to the make out point and they are gone. So he drives home his friend and then he gets into an accident. When he gets home, the man's ( who is apparently sleeping with his wife ) son has just finished giving his daughter a good night kiss. " Good evening Lieutenant Fimple, " the boy says, " F*** you! " Fimple replies. It is one of the funniest moments in the film and the film has quite a few of them.

Secret Admirer is one of the slew of teen films that came out in the 80's that was high on entertainment, if you let it do that. It is one of those films that should not be over analyzed. It is simple entertainment and it is goofball highschool entertainment. The characters in the film have fun with the roles they are thrust into and the dialogue is fresh and funny. Look for the part when the mailman comes to Michael's house and is apparently late with the mail. Classic.

I wish they could make films like this as we head into the new millennium. They are here to entertain and nothing more. And that is sometimes all we can ask for.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Trite story saved by a good 80s cast., 8 May 2004

Author: Pepper Anne from Orlando, Florida

If you like teen 80s movies, don't pass up Secret Admirer. The story has been done plenty of times. A love letter, of which the author remains conveniently anonymous, unintentionally circulates through many hands, causing loads of misconceptions and people making fools of themselves. 'The Love Letter' (with Ellen Degenerous and Tom Selleck) was the most recent rendition of this story, and I'm sure there was a 50s version of it, too. But what the heck, it's an 80s teen comedy with a well-known teen cast.

C. Thomas Howell is Mike Ryan, a high school guy who is hopelessly in love with the popular, pretty girl, Deborah (Kelly Preston). Only, he can't tell her in person how he feels about her, especially with her tough college boyfriend, Steve (played by Scott McGinnis). Mike confides in Toni (Lori Laughlin), his best friend, instead about how much he loves Deborah.

But, Mike gets the bold idea to write his dream girl a love letter. He doesn't have the courage to give it to Deborah, let alone sign it. So, he gives it to Toni, who can tell that with writing like Mike's, he doesn't stand a chance of making an impression with Deborah. She's a girl with an ego, so it's going to take a lot to impress her. She revises his letter and passes it on. And now Deborah has fallen in love with someone who doesn't exist. Of course, she likes Mike, but she only likes him based on what she has read in the revised letters. In the meantime, Toni wishes Mike would get real and realize that Deborah is no kind of girl for him because she's so insincere and all of that. She's worried about appearances more than anything else. And slowly, Mike starts to realize it, too. In that 'Some Kind of Wonderful' kind of way, he realizes that Toni really likes him, and what the heck, he likes her too.

Meanwhile, there's trouble between Mike's family and Deborah's family as the letters start passing hands of the family members and the parents start suspecting that each other's spouse wants to get involved in an affair just because of this dumb love letter. And they're even willing to have a go because they suspect their own spouses of cheating. It's all a major mistake and one entirely based on lack of trust in their relationships. The consequences are funny nonetheless.

As for the rest of the cast, there's some funny moments with cocky Roger (Casey Seizmasko), who plays Mike's other best friend and poor source of guidance about girls. You can also see a very young Corey Haim in his film debut as Mike's younger punk brother. And, other members of Mike's friends include Courtney Gains ('Can't Buy Me Love') who is in so few scenes and many other familiar faces.

It's good lazy fun even if the story isn't anything new.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Wonderful teen comedy, 15 November 2004
Author: intervalkid from Oak Island, NC

I saw this first when it came out,I was about ten. I watched it again last night. I loved it then and I love it now. The dialogue acting and plot are really good. The characters are all great and fun as well. I noticed the difference between this movie and "teen comedies" made now and it goes like this. Secret Admirer contained, more subtle thoughtful character based humour, characters with a little more chaste morality (even Kelly's jerk jock boyfriend Steve didn't want to cheat), no sluts, plenty of foul language, diverse scene locations, and more intelligent dialogue and plot twists. I liked the characters a lot and the music by Jan Hammer was fantastic and memorable, which makes sense, since Jan Hammer is a bad S.O.B (just listen to Mahavishnu Orchestra and you will know that). I remember that when I was ten I thought that Kelly preston had the greatest breast, and I was right! I still found the movie just as funny as I did then and found the innocence of the characters endearing, in fact I found every scene memorable. Thomas Howell played the party guy in love to a T. Seeing Corey Haim as his little brother made me sad when I think what happened to the poor guy, he was great, very charismatic! You would have thought he had a great future. Bastard drugs! Anyway the humor is constant even at the end when it seems to be getting serious you get a trippy break when Mike asks for directions.

A joy of a film. 10/10.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
New twist on a familiar theme, 14 September 2003
Author: vchimpanzee from North Carolina

High school student Michael Ryan gets a letter from a secret admirer who he believes to be Debbie, a beautiful but shallow girl who only dates college guys. He goes to a fraternity party to find out if she is indeed the one, but that does not work out too well. For one thing, Debbie's boyfriend Steve still wants her even though she is tired of him. So Michael goes to his attractive and intelligent friend Toni, who is also a friend of Debbie's, to find out what to do. Michael starts writing anonymous letters of his own to Debbie (who is not identified), but the letters wind up in the wrong hands, with hilarious results. The letters that make it to Debbie, of course, are not Michael's because Toni doesn't think they are good enough and she makes changes. This is strange because it is clear throughout the entire movie that Toni and Michael belong together, so if Toni wanted Michael, all she would have to do would be to deliver the terrible letters to Debbie, who supposedly wouldn't want Michael after reading them.

There is some, but not a lot of physical comedy in this movie. Some of it results from confusion about who is in love with whom, and jealousy on the part of husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. There is also a scene where a former girlfriend has found out her boyfriend bragged, and she gets revenge. You wouldn't expect this particular girl to be violent.

I didn't see any great acting performances, though I liked Toni, and Kelly Preston sometimes came across quite well as the self-centered Debbie. Overall, I enjoyed it.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Rather decent, 27 December 1999

Author: Mike (rkoegel@earthlink.net) from Selbyside - St. Paul, MN USA

I woke up a little early this morning for some reason, so I decided to watch some T. V. and I happened to catch this little film on CINEMAX and found it to be pretty good. Although it's nothing really special, it was interesting to see C. Thomas Howell again, the only other two movies I've seen him in are of course THE OUTSIDERS, and the 1986 thriller THE HITCHER. If you really enjoy teen flicks from the 80's like I do, you should rent this, otherwise watch it on television like I did.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
15 years later, 21 July 2002

Author: overcaffeined

I watched this film for the first time when it was released, back in the 80s. Now, more than 15 years later, I've watched it again. My curiosity was high, because I remember I enjoyed it when I was a teenager, and now I wished to check how this movie has been affected by time.

First of all, this film suffers the typical "teen style" which can also be seen in other titles from the 80s. This is perhaps the worst point in the movie, because the plot has interesting points, but the film style makes it seemingly look as yet another "Porky's"-like movie. In my opinion, this plot (based on a lost love letter) should have been more elaborate, and the movie should have been made with a higher quality style (for example, closer to "Never been kissed" rather than "Porky's").

Anyway, the movie is enjoyable if you can forgive this "teen style".

Moreover, it has valuable virtues: It exalts honesty and humbleness, and despite its seemingly "Porky's"-like sexual freedom, it exalts marriage and fidelity, and even chastity. It's quite refreshing to see all this in a film.

I voted it as a 5 in 1-10 scale, because I consider it as a "satisfactory movie", with a draw between the weak teen style and some good points (charming love letter plot and exaltation of virtues which are mostly forgotten by Hollywood nowadays).

Anyway, this film makes me feel a bit nostalgic (I've kind memories from the time when I first watched it), so my opinion is perhaps not as objective as it should be.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
** out of ****; Grade: C-, 6 July 2000
Author: J-Crew (jms7@po.cwru.edu)

Very typical 80's teen flick about mistaken romantic identities complements of a misplaced love letter. A somewhat talented cast can't paper over an insultingly thin script. The entire production has the feeling of 80's teen cheese and cheapness, aside from the movie's score, which is really quite good.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Typical 1980s Teen Comedy, 2 December 2000
Author: tfrizzell from United States

"Secret Admirer" is one of those typical teen films that came a dime a dozen during the 1980s. It is a film that is powered by sexual tension, raunchy comedy, and vulgar situations. The film deals with a high school boy (C. Thomas Howell) and his obsession with a classmate (Kelly Preston). After he receives an anonymous letter from an admirer, he thinks it might be Preston. However, it is friend Lori Loughlin who is the admirer. Howell starts to write letters to Preston now, but they are so sorry that Loughlin writes letters to Preston (making them appear that Howell wrote them). Preston falls in love, Howell thinks he's a genius, and Loughlin is left in the cold. Then the letters become misplaced and Howell's parents (Dee Wallace and Cliff De Young) and Preston's parents (Fred Ward and Leigh Taylor-Young) get hold of them and get the wrong idea. Now De Young and Taylor-Young are thinking of having an affair with each other while Wallace and Ward find out and look to take manners into their own hands. As you can tell everything becomes a pure mess, but it all ends well. The film is funny and somewhat clever, but it gets into nasty elements that are not really needed. Director David Greenwalt tries to juggle the disjointed screenplay, but is only minimally successful. A likeable cast and some good moments make the film watchable, but it had the potential to be so much more. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Love's Mash Note Lost, 13 March 2010

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Back in the day what C. Thomas Howell got stuffed in his school locker door would be called a mash note. An expression for a more earthy form courtship that has gone out of style. Often times they were unsigned as this one was.

Except in Secret Admirer Tom gets it wrong about who sent the note and he assumes its one girl rather than another. And he asks the right girl to send the wrong girl an anonymous note back. Which the dumb thing actually does. The girls are Kelly Preston and Lori Loughlin and I'll not say which is which.

But then the notes get passed around inadvertently and people start thinking they are meant for them and of course coming to their own conclusions about who sent them.

Now I'm not sure this kind of sophomoric behavior would have worked in a Cary Grant picture much less a Brat Pack one. Adults and packers all look a little foolish here. One of the Brat Pack in the film is the late Corey Haim. The young man had much better and much worse in store for him in his short life.

If you grew up with the Brat Pack this might be a film you'd like. Those of another generation ought to skip it.

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1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Worth watching once., 15 April 2004

Author: triple8 from Conn

Secret admirer was a really funny movie about a love letter, that winds up in many different peoples hands and creates alot of crazy misunderstandings at the same time! Good movie with a premise that was actually pretty funny. This movie, while NOWHERE aproaching greatness does contain some genuine laughs. and was actually pretty good, if not great. It was far from the best 80's teen movie but the premise was actually very funny, not to mention original and the cast was great! The cool thing about this rather wacky movie, is the premise was actualy quite plausible! Plus it shows how jumping to the wrong conclusion can trigger crazy misunderstandings. This movie is about as 80's as you can get, but might actualy be worth a look for people who haven't seen it and just want a funny, if not unique or exceptional, light, straightforward comedy.

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