Firstborn

PG-13

1984

1h 43m

Drama

List

36%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

53%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A teen (Christopher Collet) protects his divorced mother (Teri Garr) from her boyfriend (Peter Weller), a drug dealer in a black four-wheeler.

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Audience Member

This ‘80s family drama is really good with good acting and even side actors and actress who become famous later in life and especially late great Corey Haim in the movie who does have lot screen time and even though play the youngest he most out it and Christopher Collet who plays the oldest does have lot of growth and development and for his young age he shows chops a lot better then these movies where the old has to grow up and protect his family and what makes the movie good. Each characters are good enough you can available great potential for being a good movie and cult following it shows sometimes love of son could stronger then blindness for her care free happiness. Yes, the movie be shorter but makes the time goes fast how every scene his eyes and feel for him cause invested fast as you paying attention and great empathy for him and his family. Do like that even though is a small town is that location is beautiful, the house main part of the movie is beautiful and that ‘80s music is so good and brings back to the time and clothes and cars are wonderfully put together where you can see that they r not rich or poor but live well enough that you see things can change over time with this change of this family life. All in all not a bad movie I seen myself revisit it and when I good popcorn or watch it again want to express a classic like it should be. I give a A+👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/30/24

Full Review

Mike P

Watchable Stepfather-ish dramatic thriller from the early 80s has teenager Christopher Collett defending his mom Terri Garr and little bro Corey Haim from Ma's predatory boyfriend Peter Weller. Good cast and acting, crisp direction, and believable script until the silly ending. Still very solid for the most part...I'm not sure why everyone dumps on this movie so much. It's not great, but it's not bad either. And it's great nostalgia from 1984...What a time capsule! Overall: Very moderate recommendation

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

04/14/24

Full Review

Edward S

HOW could you guys give this a bad rating? This movie hit all the marks! I somehow never saw this.. everything was real in terms of how some kids would react-- the deadbeat wasn't a psycho and knew when he was beat. This was a great movie! Great period piece...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/10/24

Full Review

Jeff G

Very well made mostly. Very well acted and characters were highly developed. Anyone who has had any kind of similar situation in childhood will easily identify with the main character (Colette) and find themselves pulling for him. Definitely not a 'feel good' movie because it deals with abuse all throughout. The movie fails in some ways with the motocycle chase action scene thrown in and typical 80s ridiculous ending. Besides that definitely entertaining and engaging.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/11/24

Full Review

Michael G

This is actually a pretty well crafted movie for about the first three quarters. It literally hits peak and quickly falls in the span of one scene. When Collett tells his teacher he's a lightweight (I STILL use this line to this day) to the next scene where he's on a motorbike with bad 80's adventure music playing. This is followed by ridiculous chase scenes that I feel he and Peter Weller probably also felt was ruining an otherwise good movie and was over the top. Not to mention the title "Firstborn" and the silly poster with Collett leaning against the logo. Beyond this, everyone in it is great, especially Corey Haim. It's a shame he spiraled out; he was a gifted little actor. I remember a guy behind me saying, "that kid's really good." Some very well written scenes that are directed and acted carefully and don't go off the rails until that abrupt change previously mentioned. This movie was mostly shot in my hometown of Morristown, and I remember coming outside the theater next to the alley where he crashes his bike with the car and thinking, "wow, a real Hollywood movie shot right here." Was fun to see it all again and remember how the Morristown Green looked back then; all the stores no longer there. And up til it crosses the line into teen rebel 80's action movie, I have to say that I grew up around a few very similar families in that very area. I almost wonder if the writer grew up there; a typical suburban home invaded by a loser and falling apart beneath the facade of tranquility.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/07/24

Full Review

Teresa C

Horrible!! The message it sent was horrible. The only redeeming thing about this movie was seeing young Robert Downey Jr in an early (albeit limited) performance. Horrible!

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/06/24

Full Review

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Michael Apted

Director

Teri Garr

Wendy

Peter Weller

Sam

Christopher Collet

Jake Livingston

Corey Haim

Brian Livingston

Sarah Jessica Parker

Lisa

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Jay Carr

Boston Globe

Firstborn is the film we knew Apted had in him when we saw the care and craftsmanship in his Coal Miner's Daughter and Continental Divide. It's a find, and Collet's singular performance is its core.

Apr 28, 2018

Full Review

Paul Attanasio

Washington Post

Director Michael Apted ("Coal Miner's Daughter") settles for a movie of pat moralism, a pamphleteer's parable of how drugs destroy families.

Jan 2, 2018

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The movie creates such an urgent situation, and fills it with such interesting characters, that when everything goes wrong at the end I felt more than disappointed, I felt cheated.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

TV Guide

This flawed but interesting Freudian melodrama spends about 70 minutes making points and the last 30 minutes losing them.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 8, 2008

Full Review

Chuck O'Leary

Fantastica Daily

Rated: 3/5

Oct 11, 2005

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Jul 4, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

A teen (Christopher Collet) protects his divorced mother (Teri Garr) from her boyfriend (Peter Weller), a drug dealer in a black four-wheeler.

Director: Michael Apted
Producer: Stanley R. Jaffe, Sherry Lansing
Screenwriter: Ron Koslow
Production Co: Paramount Pictures, Jaffe-Lansing, Witt/Thomas Productions
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 28, 2017
Runtime: 1h 43m

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