Synopsis
An aspiring teenage cartoonist goes to Nantucket for the summer and accidentally gets drafted into a high-stakes class war, where the only way to save a singer’s ancestral home from greedy yacht-club billionaires is by unleashing pure 1980s chaos with the help of a ragtag group of misfits. It’s an unabashedly unhinged time capsule where corporate greed is defeated by teenagers and the power of animated imagination triumphs over cold, hard cash.
Actors & Crew
- John Cusack plays Hoops McCann. He made his feature film debut in the 1983 teen comedy Class, launching a prolific decade of ’80s films that included Sixteen Candles (1984), The Sure Thing and Better Off Dead (both 1985), and his iconic boombox-holding turn in Say Anything… (1989). He later transitioned to acclaimed adult roles in High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank, and has maintained a reputation as an independent-minded actor known for both cult comedies and blockbusters like Con Air.
- Demi Moore plays Cassandra Eldridge. She first captured public attention on the soap opera General Hospital before becoming a core member of the “Brat Pack” with films including St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) and About Last Night… (1986). Her 1980s momentum launched her into 1990s superstardom with hits like Ghost, A Few Good Men, and Indecent Proposal. She recently won a Golden Globe and earned an Academy Award nomination for The Substance (2024).
- Curtis Armstrong plays Ack Ack Raymond. He made his feature debut alongside Tom Cruise in Risky Business (1983) before becoming known for playing Dudley “Booger” Dawson in the Revenge of the Nerds franchise and Charles De Mar in Better Off Dead (1985). He later earned praise as real-life music executive Ahmet Ertegun in the Oscar-winning biopic Ray (2004) and voiced the angel Metatron on Supernatural.
- Bobcat Goldthwait plays Egg Stork. He exploded onto the 1980s stand-up scene with a gravelly, hyper-cynical persona, playing Zed in the Police Academy franchise and Eliot Loudermilk in Scrooged. He later reinvented himself as an acclaimed independent filmmaker and director, winning praise at Sundance for dark comedies like World’s Greatest Dad and God Bless America.
- Kimberly Foster plays Cookie Campbell. Her twelve-year career included guest roles on Knight Rider, The A-Team, and The Fall Guy, and a run as Michelle Stevens on Dallas (1989–1991), before she retired from acting in the mid-1990s.
- Joel Murray — younger brother of Bill Murray — made his feature film debut here as George Calamari. He went on to a lengthy television career including Pete Cavanaugh on Dharma & Greg and the alcoholic copywriter Freddy Rumsen on AMC’s Mad Men.
Budget & Shooting Locations
- Released August 8, 1986; running time 89 minutes.
- Budget: $9 million.
- Box office: $13 million.
- Filmed on location on Cape Cod and Nantucket, Massachusetts, including at the MBL Club in Woods Hole and a gas station in Dennis, Massachusetts.
- Hoops McCann is named after the protagonist in Steely Dan’s song “Glamour Profession.” The film’s animation was directed by Bill Kopp; animators David Silverman and Wes Archer went on to become directors on The Simpsons.
Rewatch verdict and Cringe Meter
One Crazy Summer holds a 6.4/10 on IMDb and a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes — a mixed critical reception that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a nostalgic favorite. As critic Gregory Weinkauf put it: “Remember fun? This movie does.”
