Celebrities' reminiscences of puberty are mixed with clips from 1950s melodramas, newsreels, and sex education films in this collage by Obie Benz, who did similar work as a production consultant on THE ATOMIC CAFE (1983). While enjoyable in small doses, HEAVY PETTING suffers from a lack
of focus and repetitiveness: it's cute, but not nearly so cute as it would like to be.
Like THE ATOMIC CAFE, HEAVY PETTING aims to be a portrait of America in the 1950s, that stereotypical decade of repression and conformity. But Benz doesn't seem to have had (or to have been able to stick to) a firm agenda for the film: the celebrities who talk about their teenage memories are s...
Released:
1989
Rated:
R
Length:
74 mins