New friendships are born, and early on a random guy gets kicked squarely in the testicles, which out of these two things do you think is gonna be the main focus of Little Darlings? If you think about it, they both seem applicable, given the title, but the realm of friendship is where this tender tale of adolescent awakening spends most of its time. I don't know about you, but I'm kinda glad the film's narrative decided to follow the girls to summer camp, as the prospect of watching the tragic aftermath of a vicious violation of ones right not to have his or her balls stomped on isn't very appealing. Anyway, a seemingly straightforward endeavor that examines the budding relationship between two girls from different socioeconomic backgrounds, the film takes the horny teenagers at camp story and gives it a girly edge. Instead of a bunch of boys trying to get laid in a forested setting, this particular woodsy lark is about a group of girls who make a bet to see which virgin will have sexual intercourse with a male human first before the summer is over. The competitors being the disaffected Angel (Kristy McNichol) and the equally disaffected (but for completely different reasons) Ferris (an elegant Tatum O'Neal). The original group who made the unsavoury wager split up into two camps: the Angel camp lead by Dana (Alexa Kenin), who encourage Angel as she makes a play for Randy (a dopey, yet oddly suave Matt Dillon), and the Ferris camp, lead by the cattish Cinder (the lovely Krista Errickson), who help the blue-blooded teen attain the penile devotion of the much older Gary (Armand Assante), a camp counselor with healthy eyebrows.
This separation of the girls gave the film more room to breath (the eight of them in the same room together was a bit much). It also gave the film's two stars a chance to shine on their own, as I found their initial hatred of one another to be awkward and forced. While Kristy's scenes had a weighty tone about them (lot's of meaningful looks and hushed longing), Tatum's were a tad creepy, but kinda playful at the same time. (The reason Armand looked much older than Tatum was because he was...much older.)
Nonetheless, Tatum's puckered lips waiting to be kissed was giggle worthy and her giddy nocturnal jaunt across the field as she left Gary's cabin was on the cusp of being enthralling.
Displaying a quiet intensity, Kristy McNichol is a sullen delight as Angel, a tough chick who smokes, wears pink tank tops, and glowers like a deranged loner. Sporting a hairstyle that defined a generation, the subtly alluring actress maintains a cool veneer as the contentious teen. It's true that both Kristy and Tatum aggressively pursue the men they want to be deflowered by, but the manner in which Kristy went about acquiring her fella was downright sexy. Her persistence when it came to bagging Matt Dillon's Randy was quite the role reversal. I mean, Angel trying to get 'em drunk, the way she picked him up in that canoe, and her flirtatious demeanor when they first met all seemed like the tactics of some unlubricated Lothario, not a feisty virgin.
At any rate, the boathouse scenes are where Miss McNichol's performance shows its mettle, giving Little Darlings the prestige it so rightly deserves in the annals of teenage camp movies.
Oh, and it should be noted that Sunshine is in the Ferris camp as well. Played by an adorable Cynthia Nixon, this particular girl had a distinct hippie vibe about her, as she openly refers to the karma of others and handed out vitamins to people she had just met.
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