As a movie, Girls Just Want to Have Fun is simple and cheesy. As an 80s time capsule full of nostalgia, it's highly entertaining. Maybe it's because I watched this movie a lot as a kid, but I couldn't stop grinning the whole time. I loved the music, I laughed at the jokes and I wanted a friend like Lynne. This isn't a great film, but it's not supposed to be. It's just supposed to be fun.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun is named for the Cyndi Lauper song, but it doesn't even have the original song in the movie. If that fact upsets you, perhaps this isn't the film for you.

What it does have is plenty of star power before they were famous. Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt and Shannen Doherty appear here way before anyone knew who they were. It's a fun little bit of fluff all about Parker's character getting to be on the show Dance TV.

Parker's dance partner for the show is played by Lee Montgomery, who is practically royalty around these parts. After all, he played the kid in Burnt Offerings, the rat loving Ben in the movie of the same name, the undead Bobby in the TV movie Dead of Night and he also stars in the fantastic TV movie musical The Midnight Hour.

I love how completely off the wall Helen Hunt's outfits are here. There's also an astounding scene where punk rockers and bodybuilders infiltrate a sweet sixteen party that had me laughing out loud.

This is a movie that knows how to cast people. Parker's rival's dad is played by Morgan Woodward who played the frightening Boss Godfrey in Cool Hand Luke. There's a lot of suggestion here that he's in love with his daughter in all of the wrong ways. Or maybe it's just that she treats him like a sugar daddy. Oh yeah - Parker's dad is played by Ed Lauter of Death Wish 3 and so many more films!

One of the actors in the film, Terry McGovern, has a pretty interesting career. He invented the term Wookie while filming THX-1138 with George Lucas. He was the voice of Launchpad McQuack and was also Dan Stevens, the fake announcer for the NFL2K series of games.

When it comes to the kids dancing, there are even more people who would go on to greatness. One of the dancers is Robin Antin, who was the creative force behind the Pussycat Dolls as well as a noted choreographer. Plus, other dancers are noted film programmer Bruce Goldstein and Gina Gershon.

Hank Azaria has an uncredited role here and so does Cyndi Lauper, which kind of makes me laugh that she's in the movie and her song isn't.

The final dance-off is astounding, with the evil girl doing dives off the set. I think more movies should have a final dance-off. It makes it way more interesting. Now I have to go think of how to work them into other films.

Shy, but sweet teenager Janey Glenn (an endearingly sunny and dynamic performance by the adorable Sarah Jessica Parker) enters a contest for the local Chicago television show "Dance TV." Janey gets partnered with hunky nice guy Jeff Malene (likable Lee Montgomery),faces stiff competition from spoiled rotten rich snob Natalie Sands (marvelously played to bitchy perfection by Holly Gragnier),and receives help from her perky rocker chick best gal pal Lynne Stone (a wonderfully spunky portrayal by Helen Hunt). Director Alan Metter and writer Amy Spies craft an refreshingly upbeat, pleasant and innocuous teen comedy romp that eschews the usual crude'n'crass raunchy adolescent sex antics in favor of relating a charming tale about realizing your potential and following your dreams. There's a wholesome and tasteful quality evident throughout which in turn greatly adds to the film's overall irresistibly good-natured appeal. This picture further benefits from engaging acting from a winningly sincere cast: Parker positively shines in the lead (you'll find yourself totally rooting for her character right from the start),Montgomery likewise does well as Jeff, Hunt is a complete brash hoot, plus there are nice supporting turns from Shannon Doherty as Jeff's bratty younger sister Maggie, Morgan Woodard as stuffy wealthy jerk J.P. Sands, Jonathan Silverman as Jeff's brainiac opportunist best friend Drew Boreman, Ed Lauter as Janey's hard-nosed killjoy ex-army officer father Colonel Glenn, Kristi Somers as conceited hipster Riki, and Bill Yeager as Jeff's chipper pop Mr. Malene. Thomas E. Ackerman's crisp cinematography makes nifty use of wipes and dissolves. Thomas Newman's bouncy score, the zingy dialogue ("Don't throw a mental, dad!"),lots of great funky dancing, several inspired moments of gut-busting lunacy (the sequence with a bunch of rowdy punkers crashing a posh débutante's ball is absolutely hilarious),and the terrifically catchy soundtrack of bubbly rock tunes all keep the movie humming throughout. A totally awesome blast from the gnarly 80's past.