For Keeps

The main claim to fame of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is that it was the birthplace of Orson Welles; the fact that the town is also now the setting of Avildsen's film is unlikely to increase its reputation. High school kids Darcy (Ringwald) and Stan (Batinkoff) are very much in lerv, but when Darcy becomes pregnant all hell breaks loose: their folks argue over adoption and abortion, the kids get spliced, and the sacrifices demanded by parenthood (Darcy's future in journalism, Stan's in architecture) temporarily threaten to split the pair asunder. Though the film finally opts for ear-bashing histrionics, its prevailingly pedagogic tone is both coy and tricksy. The dialogue is relentless in its banality, the stereotype characters unattractive and poorly motivated, the plot protracted and predictable.