The Allnighter is a 1987 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 by Tamar Simon Hoffs

Tamar Simon Hoffs

Tamar Simon Hoffs  is an award-winning American film director, writer, and producer, best known for directing the indie films Red Roses and Petrol and Pound of Flesh , both starring Malcolm McDowell.-Life and career:...

, released on May 1, 1987. The movie stars Susanna Hoffs

Susanna Hoffs

Susanna Lee Hoffs is an American vocalist, guitarist and actress. She is best known as a member of the all-female pop band The Bangles.-Early life:...

, Dedee Pfeiffer

Dedee Pfeiffer

Dedee Pfeiffer is an American film and television actress.Pfeiffer was born Dorothy D. Pfeiffer in Midway City, California, the daughter of Donna , a home-maker, and Richard Pfeiffer, a heating and air-conditioning contractor...

, Joan Cusack

Joan Cusack

Joan Mary Cusack is an American film, stage and television actress. Throughout her career, Cusack has appeared in many films as well as appearing in stage productions....

 and Pam Grier

Pam Grier

Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...

.

Background

The Allnighter is well-known for the famous scene in which Susanna Hoffs

Susanna Hoffs

Susanna Lee Hoffs is an American vocalist, guitarist and actress. She is best known as a member of the all-female pop band The Bangles.-Early life:...

 slowly dances in front of a mirror in her underwear to the tune of the classic Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

 hit "Respect

Respect (song)

"Respect" is a song written and originally released by Stax recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. "Respect" became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few minor changes in the lyrics, the stories told...

". The movie was meant as a vehicle for The Bangles

The Bangles

The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...

 lead singer, Susanna Hoffs, and was written and directed by her mother. Instead, the film bombed

Box office bomb

The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...

, and led Hoffs to abandon pursuit of a film career.

Plot

Molly (Hoffs), Val (Pfeiffer) and Gina (Cusack) are graduating college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

, but on their final night, frustrations are aired. Molly is still looking for real love and Val is beginning to doubt if that is what she has found. Gina is too busy videotaping everything to really notice. When the final party at Pacifica College kicks off, things do not go exactly as planned.

Reception

The movie was popularly and critically panned, receiving a 0% on the Internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

.

The film, according to motion picture-historian Leonard Maltin

Leonard Maltin

Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...

, was "...grotesque in the AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 era, although it would be a stinker in any age."

DVD releases

On August 24, 1999, Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...

released The Allnighter on DVD.