Vision Quest

Screenwriter Darryl Ponicsan (The Last Detail) and director Harold Becker (The Onion Field) set aside their usual gritty view of the world to make this formulaic 1985 film about an underdog male athlete and the woman whose hard-won affection represents his rite of passage into manhood. Matthew Modine stars as Louden, an 18-year-old high school wrestler determined to slim down to a certain weight class while juggling studies, a job at a hotel, aspirations to be a doctor, and his search for spiritual enlightenment. His rigorous life is thrown off course by the arrival of Carla (Linda Fiorentino), a 21-year-old Jersey girl who gets stuck in Louden's town and takes up temporary residence at the house he shares with his father (Ronny Cox). A tough, skeptical woman who seems older than her years, Carla naturally captivates Louden. The story moves inexorably toward triumphs and reality checks, but this is a cookie-cutter movie, with no room for a spontaneous idea or cinematic freedom. Fiorentino is more grim than complex—a truly one-dimensional figurehead character. Modine is much more convincing in his intensely physical performance. And a young Madonna appears in a club setting singing “Crazy for You.” Optional. (T. Keogh)