perni Review of Thank God It's Friday

Thank God It's Friday (1978)

Not as bad as Can't Stop the Music (which is its worst trait)

[16 August 2003]

I picked up a copy of this from Wal-Mart for like 4 bucks, thinking it would be yet another wonderfully horrible disco musical for me to cringe at and enjoy at the same time. Sadly, Thank God It's Friday is not nearly as loathsome as Can't Stop the Music, which set a bench mark for bad musicals that could only be reached by From Justin to Kelly. The story (such as it is here) follows about 500 characters as they dance the night away at a disco club called The Zoo (oh brother). The big event of the night is the dance contest, which doesn't occur until the movie's last few minutes and is not at all epic or exciting. I say the flick has about 500 characters because it literally does. There are so many people here that trying to invest any interest in them is pretty much impossible. Just when you're starting to figure out who certain characters are, the movie zips to the other side of the club and we meet a dozen or more new guys and gals. There's the two girls who want to win the contest so they can buy KISS tickets, the DJ who has to prove himself on his first night at the club, a budding singer who just needs a big break, an angry short fellah whose blind date is an insanely tall, shy woman, a dorky guy and a nice guy who are looking for love, a party gal and a nice gal who are looking for love, a woman who needs some fun in her life but is married to a complete stiff, a stud (played by JEFF GOLDBLUM, mind you) who makes bets with the DJ on who he can get back to his apartment, etc. etc. etc. Needless to say, the story is pretty much nonexistent, with a cameo by The Commodores barely registering on the Interesting Scale. The best part of the entire movie is when the girl who wants to be a singer, played by Donna Summers, sings the groovy hit The Last Dance. What surprised me is how the movie is rated PG but has a lot of cursing as well as drug use. I guess that back in the 70's this kind of material was seen as pretty tame. Also, the comedy struck me as being awfully cornball, and the running jokes were either stupid to begin with or made no sense at all (what is up with the Tarzan waiter, anyway?!). But, as I said before, this is a masterpiece when compared to garbage like Can't Stop the Music. Watchable, but still kind of stinky. 1.5/4 stars