Love them or hate them, anyone who enjoyed movies during the 1980s knew of the Brat Pack. It was a nickname given to a specific group of young actors and actresses in their early twenties who would often appear together in popular coming-of-age movies throughout the decade. The name was play on Rat Pack which was an earlier Hollywood A-list group that had various iterations between the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

The Brat Pack name was coined by David Blum in his 1985 cover story for New York magazine. The group (which most prominently consisted of Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi More, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, and Ally Sheedy) hated the label and felt betrayed by Blum who they had briefly let into their inner circle. Even today, Blum has no regrets and views the people impacted by his story as little more than “collateral damage”.

“Brats” is a documentary directed by Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy and it sets out to explore the careers and relationships of the young stars both before and after they were branded by Blum’s article. McCarthy approaches it with his own insider perspective but also reaches out to other former members including Estevez, Lowe, Sheedy, and Moore. Unfortunately Ringwald, Nelson, and Hall all declined to participate.

The film follows McCarthy as he seeks out the other Brat Pack members and those connected to the group in hopes of hearing their experiences and discovering what the name means to them some four decades later. Some he hasn’t spoken to in thirty or more years, as they went from making movies together to avoiding each other like a plague. Others have outside perspectives that offer some interesting insight. Many saw the Brat Pack label as insulting, reductive, and derogatory. But there were those who found benefits in the fame it brought.

As we watch it becomes clear that making the film was a therapeutic journey for McCarthy – an opportunity for him to finally reckon with this dark cloud that has followed him for so many years. It offers him the opportunity to wrestle with what the Brat Pack means to him today as opposed to in the 1980s. It’s an interesting element yet one that feels more personal to him than relatable for us.

Throughout the documentary’s brisk 92 minutes we’re treated to some insightful and revealing conversations. We also get lots of great archive footage of old interviews, movie clips, and behind the scenes video. It makes for an interesting and nostalgic retrospective for those of us who grew up in the Brat Pack era. And that’s who this film will ultimately resonate with. It’ll be a tougher sell for those without at least some attachment or familiarity. But for me, from my early crush on Demi Moore to my endless VHS rewatches of “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles”, I’m very much the film’s target audience. “Brats” is now streaming on Hulu.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS