By John Corrado

Andrew McCarthy, the star of 1980s classics like Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire, reflects on his time as part of the so-called “Brat Pack” in his enjoyable, cathartic documentary Brats.

Serving as a companion piece to his 2021 book Brat: An ’80s Story, McCarthy directs the film, which follows him as he reunites with many of his former co-stars who made up this loose cohort of young actors who helped define the 1980s.

The name was born out of a 1985 New York Magazine profile of actor Emilio Estevez, with journalist David Blum somewhat unfavourably labelling him and his Breakfast Club co-stars Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall the Brat Pack.

For better or for worse, the name itself stuck, helping fuel their stardom in a series of popular films that encouraged Hollywood to start catering to teen and young adult audiences. The thing is that the actors themselves mostly hated being branded in this way, and saw it as a detriment to their individual careers moving forward.

McCarthy’s interviews with his Brat Pack cohorts – including Estevez, Sheedy, Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, as well as Pretty in Pink director Howard Deutch – make up the bulk of Brats. He gives them space to reflect on their own legacies and feelings toward being part of the group. It’s been years since he has seen or spoken to many of them, with the camera capturing their reunions.

Did the name end up hurting their careers more in the long run, and who else was even in the so-called Brat Pack? Jon Cryer didn’t want to be or even consider himself a part of the group, while Lea Thompson concludes that she was more “Brat Pack-adjacent.” In an attempt to go deeper into their collective pop cultural impact, McCarthy interviews Malcolm Gladwell, trying to get to the bottom of why the name given to them in the magazine article stuck like glue, and captured the public’s imagination.

But Brats is mainly McCarthy’s own journey to find some closure on this chapter of his life, at a time when he is finally able to reminisce on his past, and reunite with the people that he got forever linked to through the name. The film also pays tribute to the work of John Hughes, who wrote or directed many of the teen movies like The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink that made the Brat Pack iconic. The selection of songs on the soundtrack make it a nostalgic viewing experience for fans of these films.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)

Brats will be available to stream exclusively on Disney+ in Canada as of June 28th.