Brats is a Hulu documentary that follows Andrew McCarthy – 80s star – around LA as he tried to reconnect with former cast mates. People like Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Rob Lowe, and other 80s heartthrobs who were labeled The Brat Pack at the time. The label wasn’t the best thing to happen to their careers so the doc follows McCarthy as he tries to work through his psychological scars by interviewing his old co-workers.

At first, I was kind of interested in this film mainly just to see how Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy were doing these days. Some of the Brat Pack like Rob Lowe and Molly Ringwald have been active enough but I haven’t seen Estevez and Sheedy in forever so it was kind of delightful (and existential) to see them 30+ years later.

And before I say the following, let me say that everyone’s darkest day is their own. It might seem trivial to folk on the outside.. but everyone personal scars are important to them. So I firmly believe Andrew McCarthy was deeply wounded by the Brat Pack label.

But his documentary doesn’t make me feel like it was very important outside of his immediate circles. And the more interviews he did, the more he sounded like a whiny broken record. I went from having a certain empathy to feeling like he really needed to let it go. And this doc might be an attempt to do so… but I’m not sure why it needed to be a something I spent my time on.

And it’s not like I’m grumpy about more 80s nostalgia. I love 80s movies and I love a lot of these actors. But there’s a difference between a movie talking about the Brat Pack as part of Hollywood history and talking about it as a psychological scar held by a handful of people.

There’s also a certain level of uncomfortable animosity to some of the interviews. I really thought McCarthy was gonna punch Malcolm Gladwell at one point. Or – literally – slap Rob Lowe because he doesn’t share the same trauma.

But what really sank the doc was the surprising interview with the reporter who coined the phrase Brat Pack. It was awkward and kind of mean spirited. It seems McCarthy was trying to force an apology for something the reporter didn’t think was necessary. The guy just didn’t respond in the way McCarthy wanted him to and it made the doc feel ugly and uncomfortable.

So, yeah, this is a failure of a doc outside of a tiny circle of people who might want to share it among themselves. I’m sure it’d be some pretty good therapy… but maybe not so much for the rest of us.

Score: 64