[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gjwhf_7.jpg]]

A 1985 teen comedy film about a girl named Janey, whose family has just moved to Chicago. The one bright spot is that Chicago just happens to be the location of her favorite show, ''Dance TV'', on which she dreams of performing. When she finds out there is a contest to appear on the show, she enters despite her overprotective dad. With her dance partner turned love interest, her best friend, and lots of music from TheEighties, she sets out to win the contest, best her rival, and finally win her father's approval.

The film didn't have much star power to drive it. At the time of release, the top-billed cast members were Biff Yeager (in the minor role of Jeff's father) and Kristi Somers (in the even smaller role of Rikki, the ''Dance TV'' music news reporter). This is probably at least part of the reason why didn't make back its moderate budget. On the other hand, that fact allowed it to be aired on cable very inexpensively, giving it a cult status.

It was also some PayingTheirDues roles for several actors, including Creator/SarahJessicaParker, Creator/HelenHunt, Creator/ShannenDoherty, and Jonathan Silverman.
----
!!Girls just wanna have these tropes:

* EightiesHair: Lynne's hair gets progressively bigger as the movie goes on. Natalie comes a close second with her frizzy locks.
* TheAllegedCar: Drew's needs manual assistance to start and then spews smog.
* AngryGuardDog: Janey's father sets up one of these at their Chicago residence, a Doberman which constantly barks menacingly at Janey. Lynne is forced to employ ScareTheDog during the climax in order to help Janey get to the contest.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Maggie to Jeff, Zach to Janey. However, both are also fiercely loyal to their older siblings, and do everything in their (limited) power to help them reach the final competition.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Drew tricks a girl into letting him touch her breasts. This is about the only dirty thing in the movie.
* BabysitterFromHell: Lynne is an extremely mild example of this. She tells people calling her sitting client that she doesn't speak English (so she doesn't have to take messages), brings Janey along without permission, and leaves the baby sitting in the middle of a pizza. Lynne is harmless, in the sense that she seems to actually like the baby and wouldn't hurt him, but she's definitely not someone you'd want watching your kid.
* BaitAndSwitch: It looks like [[spoiler:Natalie won the contest, but it was a tie, and there is now a tiebreaker round]].
* CannotSpitItOut: Mr. Sands tells Jeff that if Jeff and Janey don't drop out of the contest, he'll make sure that Jeff's father loses his job; since Mr. Malene is the family's sole breadwinner, this is a huge deal and Jeff takes the threat seriously. However, Jeff can't explain himself to Janey, who thinks he wants to drop out of the contest because he's decided he doesn't like her.
* CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: DiscussedTrope. Jeff's friends assume Janey is [[ReallyGetsAround easy]], being a Catholic schoolgirl.
* TheCharmer: Drew is growing into one of these; he's even able to persuade Janey's dad, a rigid military man, to reconsider the way he treats his daughter.
* CoolBike: Jeff rides a motorcycle rather than drive a car.
* CoverVersion: The rights holders to the original 1979 version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Robert Hazard allowed the filmmakers to make a movie based on the song; but Cyndi Lauper refused to let them use her version, so a generic cover had to be recorded instead.
* DadTheVeteran: Janey's father; this fact seems to make up the bulk of his personality, and his teenage daughter is growing frustrated that he often acts like she's a soldier under his command. She even mockingly salutes his back one night after he drills her for details about her homework assignments.
* DanceOfRomance: Janey and Jeff's entire relationship is displayed through a montage of these as they prepare for the contest; it's clear that the longer they dance together, the more they fall for each other.
* DanceOff: How the dance competition has to end. [[spoiler: Since the judges can't choose between Janey and Jeff and Natalie and her partner Ben, they go into a tiebreaker round.]]
* DancesAndBalls: Natalie's father throws a country club ball to celebrate his daughter making it into the ''Dance TV'' finals. The guard at the gate is told not to admit anyone who doesn't have a formal invitation with them. He tries, but Lynne and Janey have distributed copies of the invitation to local biker gangs and other "undesirables," who crash the event.
* DotingParent: Mr. Sands lets Natalie have or do anything she wants, with the unfortunate result being that she's a SpoiledBrat.
* ExactWords: Janey's dad invokes this as part of his reason for refusing to let her enter the dance competition; he says that they made a deal that when she turned eighteen, she would be entitled to "some night life." Janey points out that they made this deal when she was ''seven'' and for her, "night life" was ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', but he refuses to concede the point.
* TheFashionista: Lynne, in the most [[TheEighties Eighties]] way possible.
* FixingTheGame: Natalie attempts to do this in the contest. [[spoiler: She fails.]]
* FourthWallPsych: After watching her party get trashed, a furious Natalie turns, looks directly into the camera and declares: "This means ''war''." But the next shot reveals that she's actually talking to Janey and Lynne, who are watching the chaos from a nearby window.
* FreeRangeChildren: Lynne's parents are never seen or even mentioned, and the way she behaves throughout the movie suggests that she's allowed to do pretty much anything she wants without consequence.
* FurAndLoathing: Natalie shows up to the first auditions wearing [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gjwthf_tm_00_32.jpg a white rabbit fur coat]] (although it's real fur, so could also be PrettyInMink).
* GoodParents: Jeff's father would do anything for his kids, even risk losing his much-needed job in order for his son to follow his dream. Janey's parents are strict, but they do love her and her brother.
* HappyEnding: [[spoiler:Janey wins the contest, she and Jeff are dating, Lynne also gets on the show, and Janey's dad is proud of her (after Drew talks him into accepting what she's doing).]]
* HeroWorshipper: Lynne is this to Rikki, the news hostess on ''Dance TV''. [[spoiler:This culminates in Lynne taking over the position when Rikki quits on the night of the dance contest.]]
* KarmicTrickster: Lynne turns a debutante ball into a punk rave for petty revenge. She's also a bit of a KarmaHoudini, as she's never seen to suffer any real consequences for anything she does.
* LittleMissSnarker: Maggie, Jeff's little sister. She mostly directs it at Drew.
* LovableSexManiac: Both Drew and Lynne have shades of this. In Lynne's case it's mostly limited to a few comments; she tells Janey that she wishes she were going on a date instead of to babysit, because "I just ''know'' I must be horny."
* ManipulativeBitch: Natalie is not above doing things such as pretending to be one of the nuns from Janey's school, calling to ask her parents why she missed choir practice (she sneaked out to practice dancing with Jeff).
* MilitaryBrat: Janey and her brother Zach, although Janey is several years older than Zach so it applies more to her. As she says when forced to introduce herself to her new classmates, they moved around a lot and she's been to many different schools; now that her father has retired, she hopes they're staying put.
* MirrorRoutine: During the final round of competition, twin dancers successfully pull off a quick intro this way and are called Mirror Image. They can [[EarlyBirdCameo previously be seen]] during Janey's audition scene doing much the same thing.
* MissingMom: Jeff's dad is a single parent and it's implied that his mother has died. Natalie's mother is also never seen or mentioned, possibly with the same implication.
* NunsAreFunny: Especially when they do gymnastics. And try to use crosses for whistles.
* PimpedOutDress: Natalie's outfit at the finals is a designer bodysuit, which she tells the show staff; the ''Dance TV'' host even tells the viewers at home who designed it and that it's a one-of-a-kind original.
* PinkProductPloy: Later VHS and DVD releases of the film are mostly pink on the covers, as seen in the page image.
* RebelliousSpirit: Lynne, who prefers singing "Proud Mary" instead of "Hail Mary" at prayer time.
* RefugeInAudacity: Lynne frequently invokes this. One example: while doing Janey's makeup for the contest on the bus, a sudden stop causes her to leave a streak of lipstick on a punk's cheek. To defuse any tensions, she sweetly tells him, "That's a very good color for you," and goes back to what she was doing. He lets it pass.
* RichBitch: Natalie
* TheRival: Natalie to Janey. The main point of contention, apart from the dance contest itself, seems to be Jeff.
* ARoundOfDrinksForTheHouse: Jeff's father - who is watching the dance contest with friends at a bar - calls for the bartender to provide a round of drinks on the house. Someone responds by dumping a pitcher of beer over his head, prompting him to laugh hysterically while shouting, "Drinks on ''me''!"
* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: Janey has an [[LimitedWardrobe unfortunately limited wardrobe]] in the movie up until the finale. Actually mentioned several times by [[TheFashionista Fashionista]] Lynne.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Natalie and her father both take this view, and seem to think they can use their wealth to do pretty much anything; of particular note is Mr. Sands threatening to make sure Mr. Malene loses his job if Jeff doesn't drop out of the contest.
* SkeletonKeyCard: Used by Zach when Janey is taking a bath, so he can let her know Jeff is on the phone.
* SoreLoser: [[spoiler:Natalie]] is not happy about losing and [[NeverMyFault blames it on anything but herself]].
* SpoiledBrat: Natalie, who all but has her father whipped (until the end).
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Can be seen if Janey and Natalie's dance routines are compared. Both girls have clearly studied dance for several years (Janey can be heard telling Jeff she's taken dance and gymnastics classes for a decade) and are very good at what they do. However, Natalie's dance moves are about showing off her skills and appearance, while Janey has genuine passion for dancing and is visibly joyful when she does it.
* TitledAfterTheSong: After the Music/CyndiLauper song.
* TheUnreveal: When Jeff decides to dance in spite of the threat to his dad's job, he has his sister Maggie call Janey to relay the news. Maggie ends up passing word to Janey through Zach, since Janey is grounded (and presumably can't use the phone); he then advises her to "call for reinforcements." Sure enough, Lynne comes to help her sneak out for the contest. But we never do find out exactly ''how'' Janey contacted Lynne to ask for help.
* YouAreGrounded: Janey's father does this when he catches her sneaking through her window, so she and Lynne can sneak out to the final contest.