History Film / ValleyGirl

* OpenMindedParent: Julie's parents tell her to be "back by Tuesday"; contrast with Stacey's parents, who want her home by 1 am. Sarah explains that she and Steve try to give Julie all the space she "needs."

* OpenMindedParent: Julie's parents tell her to be "back by Tuesday" in contrast to Suzi's parents who want her home by 1 am, Julie's Mom states they try to give Julie the space she needs.

* OpenMindedParents: Julie's parents tell her to be "back by Tuesday" in contrast to Suzi's parents who want her home by 1 am, Julie's Mom states they try to give Julie the space she needs.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Tommy's actor, Creator/MichaelBowen, is said to be extremely sweet, thoughtful, and somewhat shy when the cameras are off. Bowen has made a career out of playing JerkAss types because it offers him a challenge to play someone far removed from who he is in real life.

*** The entire scene with Randy and Fred and the sushi is HilariousInHindsight, considering that [[Creator/NicolasCage Nicolas Cage's]] current wife is a waitress at a sushi restaurant!

*** A scene where Beth and Lyle are preparing sushi for the party shows Lyle attempting to top a ''gunkan maki'' (that's the style of sushi that consists of a portion of rice circled by a strip of seaweed to serve as a cup, typically used to hold ingredients like fish eggs) with a very thick and sticky substance somewhat resembling thin peanut butter. He tries at first to use chopsticks to add the topping to the sushi, then switches to a spoon, which actually turns out to be ''less'' manageable than the chopsticks, before returning to use the chopsticks again. Whatever this foodstuff was that Lyle was trying to top the sushi with was ostensibly a stand-in for actual sea urchin.

* JerkAss: Tommy. At Suzi's party, he tries to make Julie jealous by deliberately walking or dancing by her with any one of several girls also in attendance. It doesn't work; she continues to give him the cold shoulder. Tommy later tries to bed Loryn, but when she insists that they will be a couple after the deed is done, he reverses gears, calls her a lousy friend for trying to "take advantage" of him, and blackmails her into silence ("I won't tell if you won't."). [[spoiler:Of course, not only does he tell his friends, but he ''lies'', saying that Loryn had been "good."]] When he catches wind of Julie talking to Randy, he and his cronies interrupt their conversation, rough Randy up on the spot, then throw him out of the house.

* ReallyGetsAround: Stacey and Julie have a conversation in which Stacey says that she believes that Loryn does the things she says she does ("I mean, who could make up 'that stuff tastes like Clorox'?"). Julie, however, is not convinced, though she does worry for Loryn's safety. Stacey's suspicions turn out to be true; Loryn makes out with a drunken Tommy at Suzi's party and is prepared to go further. When she insists that doing the nasty will cement them as a couple, however, Tommy backs off and blackmails her into silence, saying, "I won't tell if you won't." [[spoiler:Of course, Tommy, being the JerkAss that he is, not only tells, but ''lies'' about his encounter, hinting that he and Loryn did go all the way.]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: The Valley Girl standing with Nicolas Cage's Randy in the movie poster is not actually Deborah Foreman's Julie. WordOfGod says that it is actress Tina Theberge, who plays Randy's ex-girlfriend, Samantha, in the movie. A budget DVD release of ''Film/ValleyGirl'' with ''TheSureThing'' (as the ''Totally Awesome 80s Double Feature: The Sure Thing / Valley Girl'') has Foreman's head obviously Photoshopped onto Theberge's body on the front cover.

* DespairEventHorizon: Randy, [[spoiler:after Julie dumps him. He goes on a drinking binge, has a heated make-out session with his ex-girlfriend, and is about to brawl with a car full of lowriders before Fred singlehandedly rescues him.]]

** Sushi is much more common and widely available in current American society than back in the 1980's, particularly in California (this troper once ate sushi at a restaurant in Hollywood in the mid-1990's). The scene outlined in this example only helps to underscore what an UnintentionalPeriodPiece the film has become.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: With the exception of Julie's parents, everything about this film ''screams'' 80's, particularly the hair, clothes, and music.

* MrsRobinson: Beth. She and Skip are clearly attracted to each other, and Beth even lampshades the trope when Skip comes over to deliver groceries. When Suzi calls Skip to invite him over to the house during an unsupervised slumber party (Beth is on a date), he declines, muttering his disappointment after hanging up. [[spoiler: Subverted when Skip goes to Beth's house, looking for her, and is apparently having sex with her when Suzi comes home, but [[TheReveal Beth turns out to be the one who comes home and discovers Skip in her bed... with Suzi!]]]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: NicolasCage as Randy (his first-ever role credited as "Nicolas Cage") and actress/singer/voice actress E.G. Daily (PeeWeesBigAdventure, RugRats) as Loryn; she is credited as "Elizabeth Daily." [[TwoAndAHalfMen Jon Cryer]] makes an uncredited appearance in the sequence in which Randy is hiding in the bathroom at Suzi's party, hoping that Julie will come in; he is the Valley guy sharing a joint with two Valley girls.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Tommy's actor, Michael Bowen, is said to be extremely sweet, thoughtful, and somewhat shy when the cameras are off. Bowen has made a career out of playing JerkAss types because it offers him a challenge to play someone far removed from who he is in real life.

* HotMom: Suzi's stepmom, Beth.

* CultureClash: Julie is from the Valley and Randy is a punk who attends Hollywood High. Julie's friends don't care for Randy, and Randy's friend Fred doesn't care for the Valley girls, [[spoiler:save for Stacey, with whom he becomes infatuated]].

** In Randy and Fred's defense, the sushi served at Suzi's party did not look particularly appetizing.

** Additionally, Suzi and Stacey are unaware of, or choose to ignore, Tommy's JerkAss traits simply because he is a "bitchin'" example of what they consider to be an ideal Valley dude. Not only that, but the looks that Stacey often gives Tommy and her constant referring to him as a hunk seem to hint that she herself might have had a crush on him.

** Stacey is the most vocal in her disapproval; she makes the most snarky comments about Julie and Randy's relationship and puts the most pressure on Julie to break up with Randy and reunite with Tommy. Her vehement disapproval seems to stem not just from her prejudice against non-Valley folk, but also from her anxiety that Suzi and Loryn might find out that she, albeit unwillingly, went to Hollywood with Julie, Randy, and Fred, and ostracize her the same way that she insinuates that everyone will do to Julie if Julie continues to date Randy.

* PropertyOfLove: Symbolized by Tommy's ID bracelet (in the 1980's, it was trendy for girls to wear their boyfriends' ID bracelets to signify that they "belonged" to said boyfriends). Julie returns Tommy's to him when she breaks up with him at the mall. [[spoiler:When Julie gets back together with Tommy after being "ambushed" by her friends, the first thing he does is put his bracelet back on her wrist. As Randy and Julie ride to the Valley Sheraton after escaping from the Valley High junior prom, Julie slides Tommy's bracelet off her wrist and looks at it for a moment before chucking it out the window.]]

* PropertyOfLove: Symbolized by Tommy's ID bracelet (in the 1980's, it was trendy for boys to give their ID bracelets to their girlfriends to signify "ownership"). Julie returns Tommy's to him when she breaks up with him at the mall. [[spoiler:When Julie gets back together with Tommy after being "ambushed" by her friends, the first thing he does is put his bracelet back on her wrist. As Randy and Julie ride to the Valley Sheraton after escaping from the Valley High junior prom, Julie slides Tommy's bracelet off her wrist and looks at it for a moment before chucking it out the window.]]

** At the start of the film, Julie remarks that she and Tommy have been together so long, she feels like a piece of furniture.

* PropertyOfLove: Symbolized by Tommy's ID bracelet (in the 1980's, boys would give their ID bracelets to their girlfriends to signify "ownership"). Julie returns Tommy's to him when she breaks up with him at the mall. [[spoiler:When Julie gets back together with Tommy after being "ambushed" by her friends, the first thing he does is put his bracelet back on her wrist. As Randy and Julie ride to the Valley Sheraton after escaping from the Valley High junior prom, Julie slides Tommy's bracelet off her wrist and looks at it for a moment before chucking it out the window.]]

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece

* PropertyOfLove: Symbolized by Tommy's ID bracelet (in the 1980's, boys would give their ID bracelets to their girlfriends to signify "ownership"). Julie returns Tommy's to him when she breaks up with him at the mall. [[spoiler:When Julie gets back together with Tommy after being "ambushed" by her friends, the first thing he does is put his bracelet back on her wrist. After Randy and Julie escape the Valley High junior prom in Tommy's rented limousine, Julie tosses the bracelet out of the window.]]

* CultureShock: Randy introduces Julie to his punk scene. Julie seems tolerant of it, but Stacey is visibly repulsed.

* JerkAss: Tommy. At Suzi's party, he makes sure Julie sees him with any one of the girls there, and he later tries to bed Loryn, only to reject her and blackmail her into silence when she presses him for a commitment should they go all the way. [[spoiler:Of course, after his aborted tryst, he lies to his friends, saying that Loryn was good in bed.]] When he catches wind of Julie talking to Randy, he and his cronies interrupt their conversation, rough Randy up on the spot, then throw him out of the house.

* ReallyGetsAround: Stacey and Julie have a conversation in which Stacey says that she believes that Loryn does the things she says she does ("I mean, who could make up 'that stuff tastes like Clorox'?"). Julie, however, is not convinced, though she does worry for Loryn's safety. [[spoiler:Stacey's suspicions turn out to be true; Loryn makes out with a drunken Tommy at Suzi's party and is prepared to go further. When she insists that doing the nasty will cement them as a couple, however, Tommy backs off and blackmails her into silence, saying, "I won't tell if you won't." Of course, Tommy, being the JerkAss that he is, not only goes back on his word, but lies about it, telling his friends that Loryn had been good in bed.]]