A confused, horny, and unbelievably naive teenager (Schaefer) decides to spend all his time in his love-interest's garden until she finally accepts his love. Needless to say, an annoying premise, especially when one considers how unworthy his love-interest (Russell) is of this huge undertaking, this utterly ridiculous effort. He actually spends the whole Summer in her garden, and she never once - until the last day before college - invites him inside the house. In fact, it takes her over a month to even start speaking to him. Is this girl worth a nickel? Apparently Schaefer and the director think so. Russell not only ignores Schaefer's considerable - albeit idiotic - effort, but she also goes out with a dumb jock (the usual, cliché situation in teen comedies).All the facts point to Russell being just an average, dumb, American airhead floozy, and yet she is presented to us as a girl that we're meant to find likable. This is the dumbest aspect, because she was annoying. Another thing that struck me as too absurd - even for a teen comedy - is that Schaefer actually refuses the middle-aged Catherine Hicks's open flirtation and then even voluntary oral sex from her, just so as not to jeopardize his chances with the flat-chested, skinny, thin-lipped so-so Russell! Now, Catherine Hicks makes Russell look like a school-boy, and Schaefer says no to her?! It's just too dumb. Too dumb. And annoying - once more. (I think you get the drift: a highly annoying movie.) No mentally healthy, self-respecting male heterosexual - not to mention heterosexual teen - would refuse Catherine Hicks, who looks more like 30 than 45. A sexual advance from a woman of her appeal is what the best male fantasies are made out of. In the end, Schaefer's best-friend and teen-philosopher (Robb) - who is supposed to be the (bigger) "loser" of the two of them - gets to have sex with Hicks, while Schaefer finally gets his scrawny little Lolita; I'd say that Robb got much luckier. Robb is also more interesting as a character (which admittedly isn't hard), and the guy playing him is a rather solid actor, while Schaefer's character is more bland on the whole, and Schaefer himself is nothing more than mediocre. I particularly enjoyed Robb's "a**hole gene theory" and his attitude towards life. The film is entertaining on a forgettable level, and occasionally faintly amusing, but Schaefer's inexplicable, overly-idolatory fanaticism over Russell makes little sense, and, unfortunately and very predictably, he gets the airhead in the end. The use of Beethoven's fantastic 9th for the final scene of the film was a desecration of that piece.

A film that I'd never heard of and chanced upon by accident, Eight Days a Week deserves to be a mainstay of teen cinema in the same way that John Hughes' eighties work is. Joshua Schaeffer has just the right balance of geek and cool individualism to pull off a character that could very easily fall into stalker territory and R.D. Robb is excellent as his sex-obsessed sidekick; keeping what could very easily become a caricature grounded in reality. The supporting cast of oddballs never overshadow the main story, but equally don't feel like padding as we learn more about their slightly kooky lives.It's a shame that films like this go unnoticed in a world where much more crass attempts at summing up teenage life (complete with thirty year old actors) can become box office hits.

I don't know why the producers decided to market this as another teen flick, with the typical cliche box cover, etc. This movie is actually really well crafted and really well written. I'm pretty picky about the movies I watch and I really enjoyed this one, despite thinking I was going to hate it. The dialogue is very witty -- very Clerks-esque, if you like that kind of style.

I don't see how anyone could say this film is the Breakfast Club of our generation. No way. This movie could have been good. Well, thats a stretch. Had someone else written it, someone else directed it, and someone else played the lead role... Then it could have had some potential. But the only bright side of this film is Keri Russel. And the only reason she lifts this movie up is her body. A movie cannot be driven by one gorgeous female. It needs good acting, good directing, and countless other things. This film is full of bad cliches and bad dialogue.On the other hand, I must admitt I did enjoy this film somewhat. It had a few bright points and Keri Russel sure helped. See it. Forget it. I give it a 5/10.