Q&A: Stay Cool

Tribeca rolled out the red carpet at the world premiere of Stay Cool last night, the new '80s-retro-with-a-twist romp from twins Mark and Michael Polish. (The Polish brothers are a talented pair: Michael directs, while Mark writes and stars.) The irresistible Hilary Duff was wowing the crowd with her starpower, as was uber-funnyman Chevy Chase. (Check out the photo gallery.)

The film, a throwback to John Hughes movies from the '80s, is set in the spring of 2008, and successful writer Henry McCarthy (Mark Polish) has returned to his suburban hometown after 19 years to deliver the commencement speech at his alma mater. He immediately slips back into his mid-'80s life, accentuated by his still-hanging around friends (Sean Astin and Lost's Josh Holloway) and his out-of-touch (and straight out of a Hughes movie) parents, played by '80s icons Dee Wallace (the mom in ET) and Michael Gross (Alex P. Keaton's father on Family Ties). When Henry finds an old yearbook, he decides on a whim to call up his old high-school crush, the gamine Scarlet (Winona Ryder). What follows is a twist on all those '80s classics, with the protagonists played by actors approaching the dreaded age of 40, and a bumbling principal brilliantly played by Chase. Duff plays the high school senior (named "Shasta") with a crush on the much older Henry; he tries to let her down easy with lines like, "You haven't even gone through your Led Zeppelin phase yet."

The movie is sweet, and funny, and has a terrific '80s soundtrack. (Any movie that dares to have a Lionel Richie ballad as a pivotal plot point has cred.) See the movie with your friends and play "find-the-'80s-references" afterwards.

After the screening, the Polish brothers, Chase, and Astin had a breezy Q&A with the appreciative audience. When asked if they needed to do research to get to know high school students these days, the brothers acknowledged that "ours was painful enough" and their film is reflective of "every mistake [they] made in high school." Michael explained that Mark has a sharp memory. He agreed: "That prom was my prom." And they both admitted that, yes, "John Hughes was a big influence."

When asked by an audience member if he thought a movie like this could be made twenty years from now, given the instant and daily reconnections now in place with Facebook and Twitter, Michael replied. "Let's all meet back here in 20 years and see." Chase hammed it up and added, "I'll be here!"
 

Stay Cool has more screenings throughout the Festival. Check it out!

Oh, and it would be a crime not to mention the hilarious Jessica St. Clair, who steals every scene she's in as Scarlet's best friend, the former class tartlet who still comes out with some of the best lines of the film.

Read more Festival Q&As.