A Tale Of Two Coreys (2018)

A Tale Of Two Coreys (2018)

"Hollywood loves to put people up on pedestals. Admire them, worship and then abandon them. I should know. My name is Corey Feldman and I've been acting since I was three. How could kids like Corey Haim and I ever have had the chance to be normal?"

PLOT - In the 1980's Corey Feldman and Corey Haim two teen actors on the rise of stardom meet and instantly become not only co-stars, but best friends. As the two begin to work together, it's revealed both are struggling with personal demons. Abusive, molestation, partying, and addiction. This story recounts the rocky and toxic friendship and the hardships they met along the way.

LOWDOWN - On January 6th, it was my late mother's birthday. January is a pretty tough month for my sister and I. Not only is it my mother's birthday month, it's also the month she suddenly passed away now nine years ago. I felt the best way to try and raise our spirits was to do something our mother would have loved. So, the two of us had a little viewing party for the Lifetime movie A Tale Of Two Coreys. With plenty of drinks in hand, we didn't want her birthday to be depressing. We wanted to get together with friends, laugh, and watch this film that looked like it was going to be a lot of fun. Now I'll be the first to admit. Lifetime hasn't always exactly hit the mark with movies based off famous TV shows, stars, and films. (The Full House one, the 90210 one, the Saved By The Bell one, the Brittney one, the Whitney one, ect.) but every once in a while Lifetime surprises you. I actually really like the channel, and enjoy for the most part the movies they make. Sure a lot of them seem stereotypical (Crazed stalker, crazed cheerleader kills friends, crazed babysitter, crazed abusive husband, crazed obsessive friend, ect) but some of them are actually really decent, most of all the thriller ones, and was one of my mother's favorite channels. I have so many great memories watching these cheesy 1980's/90's films with her, and laughing over how over the top they were. As for the ones based off true events, so far the only one that seemed half way decent was the Brittany Murphy and Anna Nicole Smith stories. Sure the casting isn't always on point, but these films didn't crank up the cheese factor, and actually told tragic tales over people who died much too soon. When I discovered they were making one based off Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, I knew this would have been a film my mother would have loved to see. The two Corey's were a HUGE part of me and my sister's childhood. One of my mother's favorite movies was The Lost Boys. This was one of the first VHS movies I watched growing up. I was obsessed with Corey Feldman (Friday the 13th The Final Chapter, The Goonies, Stand By Me, ect) I still remember my mother and sister buying me the two Dream A Little Dream films on VHS, and the soundtrack. I would crank this movie, swooning over Mr. Feldman, and even vaguely remember my mother even trying to get me his black spike jacket he wears on the cover. (Little did I know a guy actually bought this jacket from a flea market in Boston a few years back after it got stolen from Feldman and was returned to him) I was always the odd kid growing up, having crushes on heartthrobs from the decade before (Michael Biehn, C. Thomas Howell, and yes the two Coreys.) I loved Haim in films like Firstborn, Silver Bullet, and Lucas. I found his movies with Feldman highly enjoyable, and was thrilled back in 2008 when I went to a horror convention in NJ and was lucky enough to meet the two of them.

I met Haim again that far with my mother which was such a big deal since she was the one who introduced me to The Lost Boys. I still remember how bad Haim looked, and how heartbreaking it was. Mind you the man was a total sweetheart, as he was the summer before. Even though he didn't have the best history, he was very kind to his fans. I still remember waiting in line for him at the convention the summer before and how he was supposed to go to lunch but he saw 20 of us still waiting outside and said "Fuck it, I'm here for my fans, let them in and out of the sun." He was super funny, and seemed sincere when I thanked him as he sighed my Lost Boys VHS copy. Feldman was also really nice despite the LONG wait to meet him. Very kind, and made sure he signed everything and that it looked good. When I met Haim with my mother a few months later he wasn't looking good at all. He was still nice, but shaking, and too thin. As we walked away I'll never forget my mother sighing, shaking her head and whispering to me "That poor boy, he has at least a year left to live." My mother passed a few months later, and Haim did a year or so as well. Heartbreaking. What really sucked was me and my mom loved watching the scripted A&E show The Two Corey's right around all the Lost Boys 2 drama was happening. It killed me to see Haim die so young and suddenly. The really strange thing about the day Haim died, I was wearing my Corey Haim Vs. Corey Feldman shirt, and a few friends of mine commented on how funny it looked. A few hours later, we learned Haim had died. Spooky. 

The two of their movies, good and bad always remained favorites of mine. In fact just this past summer my sister, her husband, and I went to this bar a few towns over to watch Corey Feldman perform. I have to say as much of a shit show was the night was, Feldman blew me away as did his angels. They actually did a really good job, and we all got to meet him afterwards. I may of had a few drinks in me and just pointed to him and yelled "THE ORIGINAL TOMMY JARVIS!" Corey as always remained a class act and just nervously smiled. Man oh man! This past Christmas my sister got me his book, and I read through the whole thing in less than a weekend, just in time for the Lifetime movie. Now I'll be the first one to say, I thought this was going to be a complete train-wreck. Still, Feldman was a producer, so I felt even though it was going to mostly be told through his P.O.V painting him in a better light, I knew it would dig into the recent stories he's been talking about going into how both Haim and him were molested/raped years ago, which Feldman is convinced resulted in Haim self-destructing, leading to his death. Corey has been trying to gain money/support in finally revealing the names (even though rumors have been flying and some major star's names have all ready been dropped.) As of recently the sexual harassment war is at an all time high. Have I always agreed with what Feldman has said/done. No. But I do believe despite it all, he is trying avenge his friend who I believe he really did love, and this movie may have been the first tiny step in the truth finally coming out.

The biggest plus in this film were the four actors playing the teen and adult version of Feldman and Haim.

First off Elijah Marcano who played the teen Feldman nailed it. I really don't understand why they went with the look they did with the poster since in the actual film he nails the look 100% on Feldman in seriously every scene. From The Goonies days, all the way to The Dream A Little Dream era, he really knocked it out of the park. This kid has great talent, and it should be really interesting to see where he goes from here. Am I the only one 100% down to see a remake of Dream A Little Dream with him as the star? Come on now!

Justin Ellings who played the younger Haim did a wonderful job beside Marcano. He had the innocent look down, and capture that perfect likable cocky charm that Haim possessed in the 1980's. What really made it for me was when he did the scene reading for License To Drive. I myself felt like those casting directors. It was as if I was watching Haim himself reading those lines. Major chills! The two boys had great chemistry and played wonderfully beside each other. One thing I would have loved to see if Haim with red dyed hair in the Dream A Little Dream era. Come on people! Pay attention to detail!

As for the adults, both Scott Bosely and Casey Leach did a great job as the adult versions of the two. They had the look down 100%, but it was Leach who stole the show as the adult Haim. He really truly brought Haim back to life in a sense, and it was heartbreaking seeing how well he captured Corey's little ticks, gestures, ect. All in all, I did enjoy the teen versions slightly better, and my only true problem was I wish the movie had been longer. If it was maybe the last half an hour wouldn't have felt so rushed. Maybe it would have been better just focusing on them as teens (even though they did pair up together in the 90's three other times, and this was when a good portion of their downfall began, with several arrests, many stays in rehab, careers taking nose dives, and finally them in the early to mid 2000's them slowly getting back on track and what appeared to be the start of a comeback with the shitty Lost Boys II. I feel maybe either the film could have been longer, split into parts, or maybe even a mini series. There was TONS of stuff they could have explored. These two certainly did have a very rollercoaster like relationship. It would have been interesting seeing them re-team for Blown Away, Last Resort, and Dream A Little Dream 2. I just felt the ending with them as adults seemed a little tacked on. Some things of course were changed and added which didn't make sense, but the ending did tug on my heartstrings, and took what could have been a cheesy mess, into an actual bittersweet film. I mean this film dealt with a lot of heavy issues. We showed the difference in both households. Feldman came from a broken home, filled with abusive (his book broke my heart, and in this we just saw a glance of it all), Haim's first encounter with getting raped on the set of Lucas (I have my own theories about that one and who did it.) how it began the beginning of his struggle with drugs to numb/black out what happened. How his perfect sweet family got broken up via divorce, and how much he loved his mother who was too sweet to really see how her son was destroying himself. We watch two young men, on the verge of stardom, with really nobody responsible to be there for them, to say no, to guide them. Instead they had each other, and in so came the fame, the fans, the partying, and the drugs.

Lots and lots of drugs.

We watch how these two stars legit burn themselves out, with the constant partying, going into heavier and heavier drugs. We see both getting taken advantage by older men, the real scummy side of Hollywood, and how this friendship sadly became so toxic by the end, they needed to drift apart to survive. Now Like I said, this is mostly told in Feldman's P.O.V. We weren't there, we'll never know what happened. I'm sure he wasn't completely innocent (Him wanting to run lines while Haim takes bong rips made me laugh) but hey, we'll never know. Maybe Carrie Fisher really did have a sit down with him, maybe she didn't. Whatever the case is, it skims just over the surface of how when they were at the height of their fame, and how drug addiction made what could have been two promising careers, fizzle out to nothing. We all know it took Feldman many stays in rehab to stay sober, and the second downfall between both Coreys durning the reality show didn't exactly so the way they showed. Still, it has been proven both patched things up at the end, and Corey Haim's tragic death wasn't the ending we all wanted.

I think Lifetime did the best they could, and dealt with some heavy material. I would have loved to see the same actors in a HBO or Showtime mini series. We know they could have gotten much more graphic with that. Hey, with all the money Feldman is raising, who knows maybe it can be done. I think some really truly messed up stuff happened to these two, and we were unable to really see it all. We did get to see many montages of crazy drug use (those coke lines through...) or Feldman's relationship with Michael Jackson. (I somehow believe their friendship was pure, and as two abusive survivors, he looked up to him.) There were some great scene as good songs on the soundtrack (My favorite being them visiting the Playboy mansion together.) I would have loved to see more of them on set durning their 3 big movies in the 80's, but like I said they got the looks down, and this despite it's moments was a really well made film for TV. The actors were amazing, and even though a few scenes made me laugh, it was a cautionary tale of the dark side of Hollywood. 

So as a massive fan of these two, I have to say I highly enjoyed A Tale Of Two Coreys. Besides a few cheesy moments, it was a very well made film, that I know for a fact my mother would have loved. So to any fan of Lifetime, the 80's, or these two actors, go check out this film! It's a tragic tale of friendship, and the hardships that get in the way. To hear more of my thoughts, me and my friend Chad will be posting a link to our Podcast as we talk turkey over this film. Until them, head on over to Lifetime.com and check this movie out for yourself. It's a real treat!

4 stars!