Sarah Kernochan wrote and directed this nostalgic coming-of-age comedy-drama with some autobiographical touches. In 1963, budgetary problems at the East Coast boarding school Miss Godard's School for Girls, prompt a merger with a boy's academy. The girls are stunned at the prospect of going co-ed and devise a campaign to sabotage the plan. Screenwriter Kernochan, scripter of Sommersby and 9 1/2 Weeks, won an Oscar when she co-directed the 1972 documentary Marjoe, but this film marks her feature directorial debut creating comedy-drama. The upstate New York seen here is actually Toronto. The title created some confusion, since Kernochan's film received reviews the same month the 1998 New York Film Festival unspooled a new 35mm print of Sergei Eisenstein's silent classic Strike (1924). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Appealingly lightweight despite the handful of "women's issues" crammed into its script, this comedy anticipated the Dead Poets Society-for-girls concept of Mona Lisa Smile by several years -- but without the syrupy sentimentality and political bombast. Writer/director Sarah Kernochan wisely casts a wide range of appealing teens, from indie stalwart Heather Matarazzo to future Hollywood it-girl Kirsten Dunst (who would later star in Mona Lisa Smile). Despite the occasional anachronism or emotional off-note in Kernochan's script, these actresses succeed in bringing the film's 1960s boarding-school milieu to life with far more charm and vigor than the film's modest production values would seem to forecast. Their den mother in this endeavor is Lynn Redgrave, essaying the comic role of a stuffy headmistress with the exaggerated aplomb of a theater person slogging her way through the indie-film trenches. All I Wanna Do may tell a familiar coming-of-age tale, but it tells it well, with young female characters whose personal quirks outweigh their origins in central casting. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Kim Karon - Art Director, Melissa Chesman - Associate Producer, Gavin Coford - Boom Operator, Amanda Ellis - Casting, Laura Rosenthal - Casting, Ali Farrell - Casting, Eve Brandstein - Casting, Nelleke Privett - Casting, Peter Delacorte - Consultant/advisor, Clara George - Co-producer, Julie Ganton Whitfield - Costume Designer, Ann Hould-ward - Costume Designer, Joanne Harwood - Continuity, Walter Gasparovic - First Assistant Director, Sarah Kernochan - Director, Peter C. Frank - Editor, Nora Ephron - Executive Producer, Andras Hamori - Executive Producer, Robert Lantos - Executive Producer, Lucy Orton - Hair Styles, Brian Campbell - Location Manager, Karen Perez - Location Manager, Graeme Revell - Composer (Music Score), Susan Jacobs - Musical Direction/Supervision, Brian Williams - Musical Direction/Supervision, Marie Nardella - Makeup, Harald Ortenburger - Camera Operator, Dennis Kim - Camera Operator, Jeremy Tabarrok - Camera Operator, John Kasarda - Production Designer, Anthony Janelli - Cinematographer, Terry Gould - Production Manager, Ira Deutchman - Producer, Peter Newman - Producer, Frank Carere - Special Effects, Brian Avery - Sound/Sound Designer, Randy Butcher - Stunts, Erin Jarvis - Stunts, Jessica Kate Meyer - Stunts, Bryan Thomas - Stunts, Regan Moore - Stunts, Shelley Cook - Stunts Coordinator, Sarah Kernochan - Screenwriter, Michelle Balcers - Production Assistant, Liisa Frantila - Production Assistant, Sean Moriarity - Production Assistant, Harald Ortenburger - Second Unit Camera, Roderick Deogrades - Sound Effects Editor, Sue Parker - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Rick Parker - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Stephanie Keating - Unit Publicist, Ira Cohen - Gaffer, Richard Gaal - Grip, Christian Drennan - Grip, John MacNeil - Grip, Rico Emerson - Key Grip, Yuri Gorbachow - Music Editor, Ashley Revell - Music Editor, Andy Paley - Music Producer, Lisa Kalushner - Post Production Supervisor, Helene C. Valinsky - Production Coordinator, Lee Wildgen - Properties, Tim O'Connell - Re-Recording Mixer, Todd Beckett - Re-Recording Mixer, Dave Appleby - Re-Recording Mixer, Penny Charter - Second Assistant Director, Sean Armstrong - Special Effects Assistant, Tim Merkel - Steadicam Operator, Harry Lake - Still Photographer, Michael Courtney - Still Photographer, Eva V. Gerlitz - Still Photographer, John Medland - Still Photographer, Jane Tattersall - Supervising Sound Editor, Sue Conley - ADR Editor, Greg Shim - ADR Recordist, Darcey Kite - ADR Recordist, Renée Chan - Assistant Hair, Jean Aywaz - Assistant Hair, Michael Yankovitch - Assistant Location Manager, Trisha Keighran - Assistant Makeup, Eileen Cuffe - Assistant Production Coordinator, Andrew Skeoch - Assistant Properties, Mark Berlet - Best Boy Electric, Lisa Logan - Best Boy Grip, Jamie Burke - Construction Coordinator, Michele Cook - Dialogue Editor, Robert Cochrane - Dolly Grip, Chris Takacs - Electrician, Shem Ellis - Electrician, Michel Paul - Electrician, Rita Bertucci - Extra Casting, Sherry Eakin - First Assistant Accountant, Irene Kassow - First Assistant Editor, John Sievert - Foley Artist, Karen McConnell - Leadman, Rebecca Diana Smith - Post Production Accountant, Brenda Kulvietixs - Production Accountant, Alexa Anthony - Set Dresser, Keith Reaume - Set Dresser, Glen Avigdor - Transportation Coordinator, Liz Calderhead - Set Decorator, Neil Foster - ADR Loop Group, Chantellese Kent - ADR Loop Group, Sugith Varughese - ADR Loop Group, Frank Ruffo - ADR Loop Group, Elizabeth Brown - ADR Loop Group, Paulo Costanzo - ADR Loop Group, Ryan Kent - ADR Loop Group, Victoria Adilman - ADR Loop Group, Jeff Davis - ADR Loop Group, Tracy Ferencz - ADR Loop Group, Courtney Hawkrigg - ADR Loop Group, Maryk Hendriksen - ADR Loop Group, Kat Shtal - ADR Loop Group, Damien Whitely - ADR Loop Group, Kevan Dutchak - Focus Puller, Steve Crosgrey - Generator Operator, Kirsteen McLean - Third Assistant Director, Punam Khosla - Assistant Dialogue Editor, Chris Jannetta - Assistant Music Editor, Grant Bone - Assistant Sound Effects Editor, Richard Fernandez - Head Carpenter, Jeff Flint - Assistant Head Carpenter
