I just watched the documentary Brats on Hulu produced by Andrew McCarthy. I really, really wanted to like this because these movies really meant alot to me growing up. Unfortunately, I hated the whole thing, nearly every second of it.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ll give an ultra short timeline in the form of the movies I watched as a kid and their affect on me.

1. Grease. I had a VHS of Grease and watched every day multiple times a day until the VHS degraded to unwatchable. Grease was silly, but it was a depiction of high school. I was in grade school so it all seemed plausible. It was an ensemble cast of people dealing with social cliques, loneliness, romance, and growing up.
2. The Outsiders. An ensemble cast of all superstars, this movie was gritty and more serious, but also explored the exact same themes as Grease (without the singing). This had a deep impact on me growing up.
3. The Breakfast Club. Again, an ensemble movie about high school kids dealing with the exact same themes.
4. A slew of movies came quickly after Breakfast Club with many of the same actors. Many of these films were directed by John Hughes. Less than Zero, Pretty in Pink, Some kind of Wonderful, Sixteen Candles, and Saint Elmo’s Fire were all the same ensembles dealing with the same themes.

Ok, around 1985, an article in New York Magazine came out saying the stars of these movies were a little club he dubbed the Brat Pack. This was a play on a moniker of a 40-50’s set of friends called the Rat Pack. (see links for details)

Apparently, the actors (most of whom were in their early 20’s) took great offense to being called Brats. (As if that is worse than rats). They immediately distanced themselves from each other and from the name.

Andrew McCartney apparently spent 30’s years of his life feeling shitty about the whole thing.

Enter modern streaming. Hulu loved the idea of this documentary because they could stream all of those old movies at a cheap price if the documentary was popular.

Here is my fundamental problem with the documentary: It is totally self-indulgent bullshit.

Am I seriously supposed to feel bad for a rich beautiful movie star? He was part of the zeitgeist of the 80’s. He will forever be connected with movies people love. He made good money. When some guy wrote they were the brat pack and he took that personally, am I supposed to feel sorry for him??

It makes me so angry that he spent 30 years feeling negative about this. I have had my own turmoil and disappointments in life, but I am self-aware enough to know that I am still in the top 1% of positive human experiences. I was never homeless, never in the middle of a war zone, never fought starvation, never harassed by police, never was in imminent danger, or falsely accused of a crime. I was smart and had ample means.

Andrew McCarthy was a fucking movie star!!

The whole documentary felt like he was just asking his old movie star friends to feel sorry for him together. I felt no heart, no growth. It was cold and weird. The movies all took a hit in my opinion. I am sorry I watched it.

I am going to have to meditate on why this documentary made me so annoyed. Something deeper is happening in my brain. I guess I need to let it simmer. Did anyone else watch this and come to a different conclusion?