For Keeps Reviews

Teen idol Ringwald stars here as a bright high school student whose life takes an abrupt turn when she becomes pregnant by boyfriend Batinkoff. Both have plans to attend college and make their way in the professional world--Ringwald as a journalist, Batinkoff as an architect. Naturally their respective parents are completely at odds over the pregnancy. Ringwald's mother, a prissy Francophile who dreams of living in Paris with her daughter, opts for abortion, whereas Batinkoff's cartoonish parents push for adoption. Only Ringwald and Batyinkoff think they can make it as parents, but they must overcome a veritable obstacle course of dilemmas and difficulties to do so. FOR KEEPS opens with microscopic footage of the union of sperm and egg, giving one the impression that this is going to be a relatively realistic teen coming-of-age film that will offer an intelligent look at teen pregnancy. No such luck. The film is carelessly directed, paced, acted, and scripted, offering today's teenagers, at best, a confused message. Foremost among its endless problems is Avildsen's pathetic direction. Under his uninspired guidance, the actors appear to be performing in filmed rehearsals, guilty of glaring character inconsistencies from one scene to the next. The cliche-ridden story throws in every possible obstacle to the young couple's happiness. As a result, Avildsen's film is not a thoughtful, realistic tale but a sitcom in which the characters exist in an exaggerated sense of movie reality. There is certainly a need to address the subject of teenage pregnancy, and the casting of teen role model Ringwald (who, like her costar, struggles nobly to make this mess work) is a brilliant move. Unfortunately, FOR KEEPS simply perpetuates the ignorance that already exists on the subject of teen sexuality and teen pregnancy.