'Fresh Horses' takes an ancient story, runs it through the ringer and presents it in a washed out production with attractive actors playing dress up and moving like cattle through the strains of a predictable story. Do I sound too negative? When I see the same movie retreading the same ground that so many have gone over in mostly unsuccessful movies, you bet.Andrew McCarthy Plays Matt, a rich kid who is about to marry a crushing bore for no other reason than to make some money for the family. While settling into this idea he meets Jewel (Molly Ringwald), a poor-white-trash country girl with a modest southern twang and enough domestic problems to land her on a week's worth of guest shots on Jerry Springer.In the right roles, I like Molly Ringwald but here she plays a country gal so wounded that I didn't want her to get married as much I wanted to see her get some therapy. McCarthy, who has a kind face and never seems to rush any performance runs the gamut of expressions from A to B, but that's not his fault, the movie doesn't give him much to work with. I liked both of them in 'Pretty in Pink' because the screenplay gave three dimensional characters and a story that was worth their time (and ours). Here they are placed in front of the camera, look at each other with smoldering eyes and don't give us the slightest notion of why they are attracted to one another. Even the photography looks tired. It looks washed out and some darker shot scenes are too light. Even Ringwald's red puffy lips look pale.Will Michael give up his shot at marrying the bore and lose his money, his friends and their respect. Or will he stay with Jewel and enjoy the splendor happiness and love? This story was old when Edith Warton told it in 'The Age of Innocence'.

Screenwriter Larry Kreton adapts Fresh Horses, originally a play, for the big screen. Perhaps it was the desire to recreate something via casting decisions with the Pretty in Pink duo, McCarthy and Ringwald re-teaming for similar roles, or just in the failure of this particular play to translate so neatly to film, but something was missing that makes Fresh Horses instantly forgettable.McCarthy never seems to offer much emotion, even in the roles intended to be more romantic. He's just the inert character with some pre-determined purpose that has to be filled for two hours or so. Here, he plays Matt Larkin, the college preppy who breaks off his engagement when he falls for the mostly unsympathetic Jewel (Ringwald, written to be an almost complete dimwit), a girl who is essentially his opposite and fits the "broken home" stereotype that he feels obliged to rescue. Of course, despite urgings from his best friend Tipton (Ben Stiller in a role probably better suited for Paul Rieser) to quit playing it safe all the time and live a little, his friends are suspicious of Matt's new love interest.The movie might disappoint those looking for something similar to McCarthy and Ringwald's previous romantic pairing in Pretty in Pink, since there is so little sincerity and direction. And, neither of the leads are particularly likable - from beginning to end, Matt can't seem to decide for himself what he wants or has the guts to act on it; and Ringwald's character, too, is at times so ignorant and so shady. It doesn't exactly make for a particularly interesting love story.

reading the reviews of this movie is odd, the movie divides opinion so completely, with either very high marks or low one. maybe this is because the two leads are cast almost against type, or rather as parodies of their type in other brat pack movies.Yes they are troubled, as in their brat pack roles, but here neither is presented entirely sympathetically and their troubles are not successfully resolved.the film is an unnerving take on the familiar themes of 'pretty in pink' etc. but where as those movies establish a feel good atmosphere, this one establishes a downbeat and well rather miserable one. I am not selling the movie am I? but actually i love it, even the rain and the industrial landscapes. It seems to me that the movie focuses upon a short time in two young peoples lives and that moment is significant to each for different reasons. to me that final scene when they meet each other and have both moved on describes perfectly that sense of lost possibilities that cant be defined because they haven't happened but are felt. Essentially, mccarthy and ringwald throughout the movie have every reason not to be together, they differ in every respect, and eventually these reasons do separate them, but this sensation of what if? ie what if they had stayed together and learned to be what the other wants, that sensation remains hovering over the movies conclusion. I think the movie perfectly describes the conflict between will and desire, and leaves the characters, well at least mccarthy, unsatisfied at the end - knowing that he has failed in some way. In this respects it is an unusual movie and one that is well worth watching.

I have seen the words "ethereal" and "haunting" used in descriptions of this movie.....and I think they are dead on! I remember renting this movie just after it came out on VHS, and I totally fell in love with it, here it is, almost 19 years later and I STILL love it!Andrew McCarthy's character is so real, you see men like him every day all across America, ready to get married for all the wrong reasons, or ones that seemed right to start with, then they wake up and see there's something more to their life around them. He's also the boy you always wanted to meet or date in high school or college. Molly Ringwald's character is.....just too painfully real. You hurt for her, with her, then you're angry at her and you want to know the truth, and you feel the love.So many people hack this movie to death saying it's horrible.....but I don't think they've ever been in love so they wouldn't understand. OK yes, it's a bit hokey in spots, and somewhat hard to believe, but it WAS 1988 when it was made, the decade when "Greed is good", so you have to look at it from that perspective.PLEASE, PLEASE watch it! Watch it with an open mind and an open heart, you won't be disappointed!