Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

SnoopyStyle The Beatles are coming to America to perform on Ed Sullivan's show. In New Jersey, engaged Pam Mitchell (Nancy Allen), Grace Corrigan (Theresa Saldana) and Rosie Petrofsky (Wendie Jo Sperber) are eager to go. Janis Goldman (Susan Kendall Newman) intends to protest their bad music. Grace recruits Larry Dubois (Marc McClure) for the limo from his family funeral business. They are ed by irreverent delinquent Tony Smerko (Bobby Di Cicco). They arrive at the hotel surrounded by a mob of young girls. The group scatters as they try to sneak into the hotel. Rosie finds Beatles collector Richard Klaus (Eddie Deezen).It's a wild wacky time as the teens try to get to the seminal cultural event. The problem starts with the fact that not all of the six characters are friends. This disparate group is itching to come apart and that's exactly what they do. In fact, they scatter into six single individuals. The missing aspect of this wacky misadventure is friendship. The movie concentrates on the crazy hijinx but without the friendship, I don't care. The story could split the group but it needs to keep some of the kids together. The movie fails to deliver the relationships.

bkoganbing The most important thing about the Beatles arriving in America in January of 1964 to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show is not even mentioned in I Wanna Hold Your Hand. The fact is we were a nation in mourning with our young president slain. The Beatles coming to America was the first thing as a country we got any kind of excited about.I Wanna Hold Your Hand is the story of four young teen girls from New Jersey, Nancy Allen, Wendy Jo Sperber, Susan Kendall Newman, and Theresa Saldana and their quest to see the Beatles up close and personal and maybe get tickets to the Ed Sullivan Show. They inveigle young Marc McClure who is the son of a funeral director in their town to use his limousine, the better to get up to the hotel the Liverpool Lads are staying at. They also pick up Bobby DiCicco who hates the Beatles as foreigners and who are taking the place of his idols the Four Seasons. He's on a mission of his own to halt the broadcast by fair or foul. As history tells us he failed, but you got to see what intervened to prevent him from carrying out his task.Best in the film is Wendy Jo Sperber, the Beatlemaniac on steroids. She is hilarious in her attempts to get to her Fab Four. Most annoying in the film is Eddie Deezen the nerdy kid she teams up with in her quest. I mean he comes off like SuperNerd, his lack of social graces is painful to watch.Pieces and whole songs from The Beatles are heard throughout the film, fans will love it. Robert Zemeckis who directed and wrote the film had a real feel for those crazy times in New York in 1964.

beatleman6 ** I am writing this review having just heard of Wendie Jo Sperber's ing from breast cancer today. Her performance as Rosie, the Paul obsessed teen, was absolutely priceless. I hope fans of this film will take a moment to her and her work to help others.** I Wanna Hold Your Hand was a movie that came and went very quickly in 1978. For the life of me I can't understand why. I saw this film a year or so later on HBO and thought it was one of the funniest movies I had ever seen. It is about a group of friends trying to score tickets to the Beatles first performance on the Ed Sullivan show in February, 1964. Each person has their own reason for wanting to be there, and the storyline follows each one as they try to reach that goal. The period detail is excellent, even down to having WINS radio personality Murray the K playing himself in a cameo. The young cast does an excellent job of pulling us into their world and helping us feel what it must have been like on that Sunday in February. I must add that, contrary to an earlier reviewers claim that there were not many Beatle songs heard in the film, there were in fact many songs represented. Obviously, in 1964, there were only about two dozen songs available to the public and most of them are in there.While I found this film to be extremely entertaining, viewers not as familiar with this period of the Beatles history may miss out on some fun. There are innumerable "in" jokes and references that will go over some heads. However, as a movie it stands by itself. I still laugh in the same places I did almost thirty years ago, and still find something new with every viewing. If you are in the mood to relive a little nostalgia or need a good laugh, give this little movie a chance. I'm sure most of you won't be disappointed.

moonspinner55 Group of girlfriends scheme to see The Beatles when they come to New York City to appear on Ed Sullivan's television program in 1964. Fresh, fast-paced representation of obsessed fandom, coupled with canny recreation of an nostalgic era. Unfortunately, the story has nowhere in particular to go in the third act and resorts to ridiculous slapstick. Still, for the first three-quarters of the way, a very bright, sometimes exhilarating feature which never found its audience (the majority of the press it generated was in regards to Steven Spielberg's co-producer association). The young cast is quite good, though they are sometimes encouraged to overdo it. **1/2 from ****