Authentic 1980’s visual aesthetics, an exotic Italian sport car, and a sexy blonde leading lady. Those are the only three reasons to watch this forgotten 1988 romantic comedy from MGM. And those parts cover only 20 minutes of screen time, so get ready to fast-forward through most of ‘It Takes Two‘.
This formulaic romantic comedy follows small-town Travis (played by coked-up George Newburn) who’s about to marry the girl-next-door Stephanie (Canada’s own Leslie Hope). Days before his wedding, unsatisfied Travis forsakes his plain-Jane and heads to the big city to chase his true love; a red Lamborghini Countach replica called a Trovare Spear SL.
The hero journeys down the yellow brick road to Emerald Motors where he meets sultry saleslady Jonni (Kimberly Foster). The temptress gives young virgin Travis a peek at her undergarments while on a test drive, then relieves him of his $5K deposit. Leaving the dealership, Travis gets to enjoy one night of cruising through the big city in his flash ride, with Jonni’s home number on the back of her business card tucked into his shirt pocket. Everything is right in the world.
Sadly, the Trovare is a lemon and breaks down leaving Travis stranded in Dallas with no car or cash. He misses his wedding rehearsal when he begins a torrid affair with seductress Jonni. Yes, ‘It Takes Two‘ is a male fantasy film complete with hot cars and sexy women all set against the bright lights of the big city. Travis’ dream sequences even have women dressed in Spandex prancing around a Trovare car like a music video. Sadly, Travis turns down Jonni’s offer of running off to California in the Tovare. Instead, he returns home to his conventional life, and arrives just in time at the altar to marry his high-school sweetheart.
Spend enough time on YouTube scrolling through vaporwave videos and you might stumble across something by musical collective Xynapsis whose mission is to ‘…fuse neon dreams with cinematic storytelling to connects past and future…’. They make synthwave music and re-use scenes from retro movies to create a sense of nostalgia for the viewer.
Xynapsis used the best scenes from ‘It Takes Two‘ as the visual background to their song ‘Moonwalker’ and exposed the movie to a whole new audience. That’s how it landed on our radar! The film was not commercially successful when released. Apparently MGM tried to find an audience as a late night TV-movie, focusing on the blonde and her thigh-high stockings.
So, save 81 minutes of your life by just watching the video, because it captures all the iconic moments of sultry Jonni, confident Travis and his Trovare, before the sad movie ending where he marries the plain-Jane girl.
Don’t know how anyone could hate on this movie. If you’re a car guy and you don’t go into it expecting Shakespeare, it’s a hell of a lot of fun to watch. And yes, the parts with the Lambo and Kimberly Foster in her thigh high stockings are the best!