Tuesday, August 16, 2005

"Will she still love Lobo when she discovers he's really Gus?"

It's an exciting two-for-one day here at The Steve Guttenberg Project!

In the recent influx of eBay purchases, I came across this little gem:



Perhaps you know it as The Boyfriend School, which seems to be how it's billed on TV. But I'm here to tell you that Don't Tell Her It's Me is a can't miss classic.

Steve is, of course, the first billed star. He's the one we're not supposed to tell her it is! He's the one going to the boyfriend school!


Right abouve his manly gaze, there it is. Sure, Shelley Long gets her name in a box, with the coveted "as 'Lizzie'", but I thnk we all know who the star is here.

The premise is simple. Steve plays Gus, a cartoonist recovering from cancer. Shelley Long plays his older and bossier sister Lizzie. She's anxious to get him set up with a nice lady. She's also a romance novelist. Jami Gertz plays Emily Pear, a journalist who is out to get the true story of people behind romance novels. She meets Lizzie, and Lizzie realizes she'll be perfect for Gus. One blind double date later, and it's not love. So, Lizzie decides to turn Gus into the perfect man, who is apparently a mulleted, leather wearing, Kiwi named Lobo.

You know how women love men named Lobo.

And the hair. Ohhhhh, the hair.


How could you not fall in love with this man?

Now, it doesn't all go smoothly for Gus once he becomes Lobo. Aftter he woos Emily into bed and makes sweet, sweet love to her, he feels the need to confess. Surprisingly, Emily does not take kindly to being lied to and kicks him out of bed.

What will happen? Will Gus get his lady? Will Lizzie interfere? Will there be a last minute airport kiss?

Yes, yes and my goodness yes.

Now, I have a confession to make. While this movie certainly wasn't good, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen. In fact, I laughed a few times. I like Shelley Long. And she's pretty good in this movie. The Gutt's New Zeland accent is horrible, but he's kind of charming. And Jami Gertz is inoffensive.

I would watch this movie again. Especially if it was on TV on a weekend afternoon. Judge me if you must.

Title: Don't Tell Her It's Me (aka. The Boyfriend School)

Steve Guttenberg Films Still To Be Collected: 31

Purchased: On eBay

Cost: £2.89, including delivery

Realizing I would probably watch this again: Priceless. Pricelessly embarassing.

3 comments:

Jaime said...

I just found the blog and LOVE IT! I'm also a huge fan of this movie in particular. I too am embarrassed to admit...I have watched it at least a half a dozen times or more. The film just grows on you!

Keep up the good work!!

Unknown said...

Lobo Marunga 4 LIFE! I also enjoyed it when Lorenzo Lamas portrayed Lobo in the syndicated show "Renegade".

Man, The Gutt is awesome in this movie. It's also a quasi body-switch movie, which is always good! I particularly enjoy the fact that it has two titles.. I find myself promoting this movie to people at parties with alarming frequency.

Your blog is teh awesome. I have often considered trying to do whole-career surveys of random actor, but it takes a brave individual to do it with The Gutt.

=darwin

  said...

I live in New Zealand, and we all ride bikes and hunt. The Marungas live a few doors down.
   Interestingly, Guttenberg’s accent wasn’t bad at a time when no one in Hollywood knew anything about New Zealand. It never sounded authentic but he got a few of the vowels right! It’s a very difficult accent to fake and most non-Kiwis who try it wind up sounding like Dick van Dyke doing Cockney in Mary Poppins.