ST. ELMO'S FIRE doesn't make up for THE NUMBER 23, BAD COMPANY, or BATMAN & ROBIN

I'm not sure if there's a more reviled director in my social circle than Joel Schumacher. The reasons are simple, and can be summarized in two words: Bat Nipples. He is The Man Who Killed Batman. His filmography can read like a list of the Damned: Phone Booth. 8 MM. The Number 23. Bad Company. But allow me to theorize that there just might be two Joel Schumachers: the one who makes the atrocities listed above, and the one that likes to make small character films like LOST BOYS, TIGERLAND, and ST. ELMO'S FIRE.

I'm not sure that there are two Schumachers - and believe me, I'm not going to turn into an apologist - but there is no way you could tell that the same man made BATMAN & ROBIN from looking at ST. ELMO'S FIRE. There's not a wildly overblown performance in the bunch, neon is kept to a merciful minimum, and, most importantly, there's a grounded human reality to the proceedings.

ST. ELMO'S FIRE kind of reminded me of an ensemble '80's version of a personal favourite, HIGH FIDELITY. The characters are all deeply flawed, even repugnant at times, but there's a basic goodness and purity to the friendships that keep you from being completely turned off. Emilio Estevez is actually the weak link in the cast, but that's mostly the script's fault, as he's given precious little to do except obsess over Andie McDowell. Ally Sheedy continues to break my heart with every performance, Mare Winningham turns in a startling Barbara Bel Geddes impression, and Demi Moore turns in the only sincere performance I've ever seen from her. Judd Nelson plays an eerie Bill Clinton forerunner and Andrew McCarthy rounds out the cast as the depressed loner of the group. The real standout, though, is Rob Lowe.

Yes, STIR OF ECHOES 2's Rob Lowe. I'm used to seeing him in THE WEST WING mode, as the charming well-intentioned genius, but here he plays completely against that type, as the self-destructive, womanizing, alcoholic Billy Hicks. It's a great role, reminiscent of Kevin Bacon's in DINER, but Lowe makes it his own, even when he's called on to make playing "lead sax" (which is, as we all know, an actual thing) look cool (which he debatably does).

The film basically follows this group of friends as they navigate post-college life. ST. ELMO'S FIRE's greatest strength is that these characters have a wide array of problems, and the actors all breathe genuine life into them. The appeal of these type of ensembles is that everyone has a few scenes to shine, and you're never stuck with one character for too long. Schumacher keeps up a bustling pace so you're never bored.

I've already mentioned HIGH FIDELITY and DINER, two of my all-time favourite movies, and I'm asking myself why I didn't like it as much. I think the answer is that ST. ELMO'S FIRE feels like a product of its time - it's very much tied to the eighties, and it occasionally feels like an after-school special. Demi Moore does cocaine and lives on credit, Judd Nelson's political ambitions threaten his personal relationships, and Andrew McCarthy has a secret crush, and this territory verges on the cliché.

So are there two Joel Schumachers? He's got a movie coming out next month called TWELVE which looks like ST. ELMO'S FIRE meets THE HILLS, and it looks absolutely awful (including the tell-tale 50 Cent supporting role). I'm forced to believe when watching that trailer that movies like this one or LOST BOYS were, in fact, happy accidents.

And that the scorn is well-deserved.