Main Cast: Barbara Harris, Michelle Meyrink, William O'Leary, Wallace Shawn, James Nardini
Release Year: 1987
Country: US
Run Time: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
April (Michelle Meyrink) is a hot item who causes her boyfriends to spontaneously combust in the heat of passion in this low-budget comedy. Her childhood sweetheart Andy (William O'Leary) is the one who usually gets burned and doesn't believe the warning given by April's mom (Barbara Harris). The involuntary curse gives April several opportunities to burn up the big screen with a sizzling sample of laughs. Made in Lawrence, Kansas with an estimated production cost of a million dollars, this film marks the directorial debut for Chuck Martinez. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Nice Girls Don't Explode is a 1987comedy film in which April Flowers (Michelle Meyrink) is kept away from boys by her overprotective mother (Barbara Harris) because flames have a tendency to spontaneously erupt whenever her hormones are aroused. For April, "protection" on a dinner date is carrying a fire extinguisher. As mother explains, April is a "fire girl", whose very unstable body chemistry causes spontaneous combustion when she is aroused. As such, the only men April meets more than once are firefighters.
When April reconnects with Andy (William O'Leary), a former neighbor boy who has moved back, he challenges this assumption and presses his luck to prove to her that her hormones are not, in fact, explosive. Hijinx result as Andy tries to prove his point and get the girl, thwarted at every step by April's mother. Further complications ensue when April befriends a lonely, obsessive pyromaniac named "Ellen" (Wallace Shawn), who becomes incensed at the constant mishearing of his real name "Ellen" for "Helen"--after which he throws Bic-flicking snits and tries to set his tormentors on fire. But it turns out that Ellen has a secret connection with April's mother: a connection directly related to April's dating problems.
