Radio station manager Doug Simpson (Tony Danza) gets into a fight and thrown out of the window. The cops interrogate him. The station is fading. He's a widower raising daughters Katie (Ami Dolenz) and Bonnie. Katie turns 15 and is adorkable. Richie is her equally dorky neighbor boyfriend. While Doug is out of town, she gets a makeover from his girlfriend Janet Pearson (Catherine Hicks). Suddenly, she's hot and every guy notices. Let the parade of guys begin. Doug seeks help from Dr. Herman Fishbinder (Wallace Shawn) and his book.

I imagine this would be the fate of 80s teen movies if John Hughes didn't exist. It's cheesy and father-knows-best is overwhelmed. Even the drag race and burger place hearkens back to the 50s in their styles. Danza is not able to get beyond his TV personality. It is unrelentingly unfunny. It takes no risks other than Katie's age. Dolenz is actually 19 as she plays the 15 year old. There is a Lolita factor in a bad way as she does the slow-motion Baywatch running. There is also a young Matthew Perry who comes in during the second half. It's all pretty bad. Nobody actually needs to see this.

She's Out of Control is a fun film, with a surprisingly effective Tony Danza performance.

The beach scene's classic. Unfortunately Ami Dolenz's character's a little underwritten and the ending's stock standard.

A widower (Tony Danza) manages a radio station and takes care of his two girls. As he's away on business, his girlfriend (Catherine Hicks) gives his nerdy 15 year-old daughter (Ami Dolenz) a makeover. When the dad returns home his daughter is no longer a girl, but a blossoming woman who's attracting males left and right. Wallace Shawn plays a successful psychologist.

"She's Out of Control" (1989) is a coming of age dramedy that pokes fun at several things: The loving father who's overly concerned about his daughter's honor, a girl's discovery of her womanly powers, self-help authors who supposedly have everything figured out, and the challenging relationship between the daughter's boyfriend and her father .

The title isn't "false advertising" because everything's told from the perspective of the protagonist, which is Danza's character. To HIM, she is out of control. Speaking of Danza, he has John Ritter's likable charm and easily carries the movie.

Dolenz was 18 during shooting and is serviceable as the title character, but she got better in such roles as she aged, as witnessed in "Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings" (1993). The film would've been more successful if they casted a more iconic 80's actress in the role (although I'm glad Molly Ringwald didn't play the part, probably because she was too old by 1988 when the film was shot). On the other side of the gender spectrum, Dana Ashbrook stands out as rockin' loner Joey.

The main reason I was interested in seeing this flick was because Siskel & Ebert tore it to pieces on their show. Gene even said he considered quitting his job because of it. Seriously? It's a cute high school comedy focusing on a father's amusing travails, not frickin' "Gandhi." Meanwhile, in Ebert's review, he laughably psychoanalyzed the dad's attitude toward his daughter as "perverse," "sick" and "sexual." Really? All movies exaggerate reality to some degree, especially farces like this one. ALL fathers of nubile daughters can relate to his situation to some degree, even though it's amusingly EXAGGERATED.

The movie runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in the Los Angeles area (South Pasadena, Malibu, Huntington Park, Downey, Oxnard and Hollywood).

GRADE: B-