Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

rpvanderlinden I decided to putter around the apartment while I recorded this movie, but that was scuttled when the chick's leg with the mile-high blue platform shoe emerged from the bus. I laughed. I remember platform shoes - had a pair of my own. The laughs kept coming. So I sat down and watched the movie.It's not great cinema, but it doesn't have to be. "Thank God It's Friday" is a silly, goofy, infectious bit of fun about a disparate group of people who converge on a disco one night, each with their own agenda. A couple of teeny-boppers want to enter the dance contest and spend most of the movie trying to crash the place. A suburban couple show up - the woman wants a good time, but the man is so uptight he spends all his time whining until, that is, he meets a disco chick with lots of pills, and he becomes Party Guy. And so on. There's also Donna Summer. Love Donna Summer!There are so many characters and story lines going on that it's a miracle the writers kept them all straight. They manage to intersect at the right moments, making for some comic situations. There are some moments that made me uncomfortable, however, and they need to be brought up. The drugs, for one thing. They may have seemed innocuous at the time, but in reality they wrecked a lot of lives. Also, one lone young woman elects to go home with several guys to booze and soak in a jacuzzi. I found that sad and creepy. In hindsight, hedonism did have its price. Watch this movie with a group of people, remembering that you need to take it for what it is, a relic of a time and place - and feeling - that is long gone.

gwcohn-2 Question from a previous comment: "Finally - did the 1970's discos really close at midnight? :-)"Well, yes, sort of. Most of the places I frequented in Tucson AZ during this time period had "last call" around 12:30 AM as they officially had to stop serving liquor by 1 AM. There were a few that stayed open until 2 AM but it was only soft drinks after 1 AM.This movie is a blast from my past and really brings back memories of hanging out at the dance clubs in the mid to late '70's. I never was into the drug scene and it was actually fairly discrete at most places so the movie is a reasonable representation of my Friday and Saturday nights during that era. The disco I frequented was called the "Fun Factory" and had all sorts of weird creatures as part of the decor. The dance floor was pretty small but it had flashing lights under it and the usual spotlights, strobes, mirror balls, etc. The had live bands and between sets they played long compilations of current hits on tape. They even occasionally had dance contests like in the movie!I still have my Heishi beads and necklaces that I wore to the clubs but I suspect the leisure suits and unisex flowery shirts have long since been donated to Goodwill.It was a great time to be in your 20's and I'm glad I got to experience it. In many ways the music was much better than today's and we had a lot of fun but didn't get into too much trouble. Every time I hear a Donna Summer song, It causes a flashback to that "fabulous" era. ;-)

preppy-3 One night in a disco involving various characters and situations.Most people like this for its accurate representation of the Disco Era. Its all here--the terrible clothes, music and casual drug taking. It also has a great five minute or so bit where Donna Summer belts out "Last Dance" (a deserved Academy Award winner for Best Song). But one good bit does not excuse the rest of the movie. It's badly written and badly acted full of characters you could care less about. The dramatic moments come across as unintentionally hilarious while the intentional comedy is downright painful. It's hard to believe that Jeff Goldblum, Debra Winger and Donna Summer still had careers after this fiasco. I caught it on cable TV a few years ago and it was a real chore watching the whole thing! The only thing I could think of after was TGIO--Thank God It's Over! For a much better and more accurate representation of disco rent "Saturday Night Fever" (the R rated version). Avoid, at all costs, this mess. Gets a 2 just for "Last Dance".

gftbiloxi THANK GOD IT'S Friday was released just as the disco craze crested, when anything and everything might happen during a night on the town, when sex was casual, and drink and drugs were still regarded in a lighthearted manner, and music wailed and blared with the likes of Gloria Gaynor and K.C. & the Sunshine Band. Within a few years Disco would be publicly declared dead--but it still lives on in the recordings... and in Donna Summer's screen image of the Disco Diva, shimmering in the spotlight beneath the mirror ball with a hibiscus tucked into her hair as she belts out her megaton hit, "Last Dance."TGIF is best regarded as a cultural artifact, an attempt to show everything that was shiny about the Disco world without any reference to its down sides of sexually transmitted diseases, next-morning-hangovers, and serious drug addictions. The story is slight: a disco is hosting a big dance contest, and every one arrives at the door with personal ambitions. There is, of course, the singer who hopes to hit it big; two underage teen girls hot to be Disco Queens; a sweet young thing who hates polyester and is looking for Mr. Right in the wrong place; and a ladykiller looking to score his next victim. The film is most memorable for the look of the disco, which is the real star of the film, and the cast, which includes several performers on their way up: Jeff Goldblum as the lady killer; Deborah Winger as the anti-polyester good girl; and of all people a very, very young Terri Nunn, who would later score big as the front singer for the band Berlin.There are all the usual running gags, and as a whole the film is only mildly entertaining. But then Donna Summer steps into the spotlight--and for a few moments everything that was magic about Disco lives and breathes again. For what it is--an incredibly light, mindless bit of tinsel--the film is well done, but it has an extremely limited appeal for a contemporary audience. Unless you were actually part of the disco scene and want to revisit old memories, you're better off catching it on the late-late show. But my oh my... wasn't Donna Summer something special!Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer