Rotten Tomatoes
Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Smooth Talk

Play trailer Poster for Smooth Talk PG-13 1985 1h 32m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
94% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 47% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Fifteen-year-old Connie (Laura Dern) spends the summer before her sophomore year fixating on getting male attention. While her mother, Katherine (Mary Kay Place), nags her about painting the house and favors her older sister, Connie spends her days going to the mall with her friends. One day, while the rest of her family is having a barbecue, Connie is confronted at home by a handsome, dangerous stranger, Arnold Friend (Treat Williams), who has been watching her.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Smooth Talk

Smooth Talk

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Elevated by Laura Dern's haunting performance, Smooth Talk is far more than your average coming-of-age drama.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune 11/26/2023
3.5/4
The strained mother-daughter relationship in ''Smooth Talk'' is one of the film's highlights, suggesting that envy often translates into hostility. Go to Full Review Sheila Benson Los Angeles Times 11/26/2023
What makes Laura Dern’s performance the event that it is--one of the finest, most sustained and most shatteringly observed we’ve had this year... it’s rare to have this variety of insights about adolescence from an actress so nearly that age herself. Go to Full Review Rita Kempley Washington Post 11/26/2023
Not just another youth movie, but a deft dramatization of a Joyce Carol Oates story adapted by a couple of documentary filmmakers in their feature debut. Go to Full Review Marya E. Gates Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) 02/13/2024
Williams walks a fine line between total creep and smooth operator in a film that similarly explores the liminal space between fear and desire during female adolescence. Go to Full Review Brian Susbielles InSession Film 03/06/2023
Dern plays a silly, hopeful, and doomed figure whose interest in a groovy figure (played by Treat Williams) shows its initial sparks and the charm anyone can put on before shifting gears to its more controlling ways. Go to Full Review Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com 02/28/2022
FIVE STARS
...an apt response to America's puritanical mindset that still refuses to responsibly address sex education. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Richard B @RichardB12314 Mar 9 I really liked the photography that made the 1980s seem like it was yesterday. The story is of a girl losing interest in her family out of suffocation, but she's now in a dangerous world of boys and men that she doesn't know. Laura Dern turned in a good performance, but she looked too old to be a minor. If it was biologically accurately cast, Treat Williams would be even more creepy than he actually is. It's a cautionary tale that we should appreciate the good relationships we actually have and realize that what's new and novel isn't always better. See more Dinah H @RT29170748 Nov 29 Honestly the ending of this was better than the short story but the movie was a little off for me. See more Stephen C @bob25009 Jul 4 Failure in 1 hour and 32 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Michael C @RT52951401 12/18/2024 Date rap at its finest. Yuck! See more Joan N @RT49303020 04/28/2024 An underrated gem. Great performances from Laura Dern and Treat Williams. See more 06/09/2021 I saw this movie when it came out in 1985 and just recently saw it again. What a difference 35 years make. When I first saw it, I thought Treat Williams was fantastic, destined to be a star. This time around, I thought his acting was overwrought, a little too mannered. This time around, it is Laura Dern who is fantastic as a teen chafing against her family on the one hand, and a nervous, giggly, anxious, girls-just-want-to-have-fun teenager on the other. She's sexually curious but hesitant. That is, until she is relentlessly pursued by the enigmatic Wiliams, simultaneously threatening and seductive. She engages him skeptically from behind a screen door until she reluctantly agrees to go for a ride in his muscle car. We next see the car parked in the country without the couple and we left to wonder when she returns gratefully engaging her family. See more Read all reviews
Smooth Talk

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING

Cast & Crew

View All

Joyce Chopra

Director

Laura Dern

Connie

Treat Williams

Arnold Friend

Mary Kay Place

Katherine

Margaret Welsh

Laura

Sara Inglis

Jill

More Like This

View All
The Legend of Billie Jean 39% 75% The Legend of Billie Jean Watchlist Just Between Friends 33% 52% Just Between Friends Watchlist The Color Purple 72% 94% The Color Purple Watchlist 'Night, Mother 80% 85% 'Night, Mother Watchlist Agnes of God 44% 59% Agnes of God Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Smooth Talk

Smooth Talk (1985) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Fifteen-year-old Connie (Laura Dern) spends the summer before her sophomore year fixating on getting male attention. While her mother, Katherine (Mary Kay Place), nags her about painting the house and favors her older sister, Connie spends her days going to the mall with her friends. One day, while the rest of her family is having a barbecue, Connie is confronted at home by a handsome, dangerous stranger, Arnold Friend (Treat Williams), who has been watching her.
Director
Joyce Chopra
Producer
Martin Rosen
Screenwriter
Tom Cole
Distributor
International Spectrafilm
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 17, 1985, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Dec 7, 2004
Runtime
1h 32m
Most Popular at Home Now