Career Opportunities (1991)

Jim is the dorky son of a local cement contractor who lives at home and has no direction. Josie is the gorgeous daughter of a wealthy businessman who dreams of leaving town. When Jim is ... See full summary »

Director:

Bryan Gordon

Writer:

John Hughes

Stars:

Frank Whaley, Jennifer Connelly, Dermot Mulroney

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Whaley	...	Jim Dodge
Jennifer Connelly	...	Josie McClellan
Dermot Mulroney	...	Nestor Pyle
Kieran Mulroney	...	Gil Kinney
John M. Jackson	...	Bud Dodge
Jenny O'Hara	...	Dotty Dodge
Noble Willingham	...	Roger Roy McClellan
Nada Despotovich	...	Penny Dodge
Reid Binion	...	Cal Dodge
Barry Corbin	...	Officer Don
Denise Galik	...	Lorraine (as Denise Galik-Furey)
Wilbur Fitzgerald	...	Bob Bosenbeck
Dan Albright	...	Dave Hockner
Marc Clement	...	Otis
Andrew Winton	...	Boy #1

Storyline

Jim is the dorky son of a local cement contractor who lives at home and has no direction. Josie is the gorgeous daughter of a wealthy businessman who dreams of leaving town. When Jim is locked inside a Target store on his first night as the overnight janitor, he discovers Josie, who fell asleep while contemplating shoplifting. Now locked in together, the pair learns they have a lot in common. Little do they know that two petty criminals are on the lam and looking for a place to hide.

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Plot Keywords:

liar | coming of age | locked in a store | flirting | fired from the job | 

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Taglines:

Maximum comedy at minimum wage!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 March 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

One Wild Night

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$11,336,986

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hughes Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The gun in the janitor's locker that Jim uses to fire off in the store is the same gun model used by Arnold Schwarzenegger as seen in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

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Goofs

Jim and Josie find time to remove their rollerskates and put their shoes back on before hiding in the dressing room,

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Quotes

Jim Dodge: Any little fraulein who expects anything more from me than a little bit of pleasure, a little bit of danger, and a great set of pectorals, she's lookin for a fall right on her ass.

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Connections

Referenced in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

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Soundtracks

Where Are You Baby
Written and Performed by Betty Boo
Courtesy of Reprise Records
By arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

A weak comedy only worth seeing for Jennifer Connelly.

Frank Whaley plays Jim Dodge (Frank Whaley), a thoroughly annoying smart-mouthed wise-ass waste-of-space with a dead end job as a night janitor in a supermarket. Jennifer Connelly plays Josie McClellan (Jennifer Connelly), a poor little rich girl desperate to get away from her millionaire daddy (who beats her). When Josie chickens out of shoplifting at the last minute, she is locked in the shop for the night and meets Jim (as he roller-skates down an aisle in his boxers and a wedding veil!). Together they do a bit of collective soul-searching, swap sob stories and decide to run away together. However, their plans are interrupted somewhat when a couple of gun wielding thieves break into the store...

Despite being written by top teen-movie maker John Hughes and featuring a pretty decent cast (John Candy has a cameo and the two leads are both capable actors), Career Opportunities (AKA One Wild Night), is a rather weak comedy with irritating characters and very few laughs.

I, like most males who have reviewed this movie on IMDb, do agree, however, that it is worth viewing if you are a fan of Jennifer Connelly and her very impressive curves. The delectable JC looks stunning in a tight white vest and standout scenes include her rollerskating through the shop, and rocking slowly back and forth on a supermarket horse ride (a moment guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of all heterosexual men).

But of course, Ms. Connelly looking damn fine doesn't make this a great piece of film-making (just great eye-candy), and ultimately this is a rather desperate 'comedy' that comes nowhere near to the matching the quality of Hughes' 80s output.