St. Elmo's Fire1985
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: St. Elmo's Fire is almost peak Brat Pack: it's got the cast, the fashion, and the music, but the characters are too frequently unlikable.
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Movie Info
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Cast
as Kirby Keger
as Billy Hicks
as Kevin Dolenz
as Jules
as Alec Newbary
as Leslie Hunter
as Wendy Beamish
as Beamish
as Dale
as Mrs. Beamish
as Felicia
as Wally

as Howie Krantz

as Ron Dellasandro
as Judith
as Naomi

as Guy

as Welfare Woman

as Myra

as Maitre D'
as Felicia's Date

as Chauffeur
as Postgrad

as Kim Sung Ho
as Woman Banker
as Brother-in-Law #1

as Brother-in-Law #2

as Libby

as Nephew

as Rachel

as Cop

as Clayton

as Tommy Bancroft

as Flirt

as Jules's Date

as Clayton

as Street Tough

as Nurse

as Rowdy Undergrad

as Hysterical Woman

as The New Breed Member

as The New Breed Member

as The New Breed Member

as The New Breed Member

as The New Breed Member
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Critic Reviews for St. Elmo's Fire
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (25) | DVD (5)
These aren't characters -- they're character hooks.

All speed and stylishness without a bit of emotional resonance beneath.

There is an abundance of astute and knowledgeably drawn scenes with this contextually structured story. There are some biting observations of college life, with law school in particular taking some verbal jabs on the chin.

St. Elmo's Fire is all about a group of recent college graduates in Washington who were always the best of friends but now are drifting apart as real life approaches, discovering various reasons why they are so individually obnoxious.
Estevez and Nelson are as unappealing here as in The Breakfast Club, though in fairness they're hampered by a script that seems to despise its characters.

An icon of the 80's.
Audience Reviews for St. Elmo's Fire
Not one I grew up with, but I have come to appreciate this later in life. A not so great 80's drama still beats most of the new ones, and I do like a lot of the cast, particularly Andrew McCarthy. I think the brat pack stuff put me off when this was popular, but it does have a bit of depth to it.
Super Reviewer
It plays like a rejected backdoor pilot for a coming-of-age prime time TV drama series, with not very interesting storylines despite the good acting - and it does not help a bit that the characters and their personal conflicts don't get enough individual screen time to fully grow on us.
Super Reviewer
It's really quite enjoyable - the humor, the drama - but it just doesn't make much sense to me. All these friends have such disparate personalities that there's no way they would all hang out and remain friends after college - and that's not even speaking of Wendy's completely baseless infatuation for Billy. My friend pointed out that my own circle of friends have vastly different characters, but we coexist because we've had the benefit of hanging out a lot in real life. The St. Elmo's gang are never shown "just hanging out." They're always doing something, getting into trouble, plotting grand gestures - all these huge moments of which culminates in an overwrought, melodramatic climax that of course brings them all together. The explanation of the title also doesn't hold much water.
Super Reviewer
St. Elmo's Fire Quotes
Kevin: | Love, love, you know what love is? Love is an illusion created by lawyer types like yourself to perpetuate another illusion called marriage to create the reality of divorce and then the illusionary need for divorce lawyers. |
Leslie: | Men... Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em. |