10 Movie Reveals That STOPPED You From Walking Out
7. Karen Goes Back To Rick - The Last American Virgin
For a solid 98% of its runtime, The Last American Virgin is a pretty typical '80s boner comedy filled with gratuitous nudity, juvenile jokes, and a perfunctory abortion subplot - the latter being surprisingly commonplace in comedies of this era.
All the same, this is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get rom-com, right? We fully expect the film to end with high-schooler Gary (Lawrence Monoson) getting the girl of his dreams, his cute classmate Karen (Diane Franklin).
Even when Karen gets pregnant by Gary's sexist pig of a friend Rick (Steve Antin), it's Gary who sticks by her and even pays for her abortion by selling his belongings and borrowing cash from his boss.
Gary and Karen seemingly grow closer together as the film reaches its end, with Gary declaring his love for her, the pair sharing a kiss, and Karen inviting Gary to her 18th birthday party.
Right, we all know where this is going - why even bother tuning in for the treacly happy ending?
But when an elated Gary arrives at the party, he walks in on Karen and Rick making out. A devastated Gary promptly leaves the party, drives home in tears, and the end credits roll. That's it.
Nobody could've seen such an unexpected yet believably brutal end coming - the "nice guy" gets rebuffed for the hot-yet-abusive jock, because you can't just make somebody love you, no matter how much Hollywood might try to suggest otherwise.
This was a cold bucket of water to the face for audiences and two defiant middle fingers up at Hollywood's tendency towards saccharine, implausible romance.