Review | Willy/Milly (1986)

So far, I’ve only written reviews of titles in my own personal collection, but after hearing about this film in a movie collector’s group I’m part of on Facebook, I knew that it needed to be seen to be believed. Luckily, the whole movie was available on YouTube in its entirety, so I was able to watch it and review it for you fine folks.

Before getting into the actual review at hand, I have a question: Do you remember a film from 1985 titled Just One of the Guys? The movie centers around high school student and aspiring journalist Terry Griffith (Joyce Hyser) who, after feeling that female journalists are discriminated against, poses as a male student to see if she’ll be treated differently as a “he”. The topic is well-approached, and the film is highly enjoyable with fun performances from Joyce Hyser, Billy Jacoby, and even Mr. Cobra Kai himself: William Zabka.

The following year, we got a similar film titled Willy/Milly (or Something Special in some markets). This time around, 14-year-old Milly Niceman (Pamela Segall) can’t help but think that boys have it so easy, and she would just love to see what it’s like to be one.

Milly breaks her filtered binoculars one night and can’t look at the solar eclipse, so she seeks help from her neighbor and hoarder, Malcolm (played by a young Seth Green). For a bargain price of $2.50, he sells her binoculars, filters, and even throws in a powder that brings your deepest desires to life if you spread it in a circle and lay inside it during the eclipse. Kind of a random item for him to throw in, but the plot just wouldn’t move forward if he didn’t.

Milly does exactly that and enjoys the solar eclipse with her best friend Stephanie (Mary Tanner).

We find out what her deepest desire is when she wakes up the next morning and has a… How should I say this? She wakes up with an extra appendage down there. Milly wanted to know what it’s like being a boy, well she’s about to find out.

Her parents (Patty Duke and John Glover) take her to see specialists, who come to the conclusion that Milly was born with both reproductive organs and that she can now choose whether she wants to be a girl, or a boy. This is where all realism goes out the window, while all three characters accept this information as if it makes sense. Yes, I’m aware that this does happen in real life, BUT if Milly was, in fact, born with both organs, wouldn’t her parents know about it, from changing / bathing her in her childhood??? Alas, that’s the best the writers could come up with.

Milly decides to satisfy her curiosity, and finally see what’s it like to be a boy. Yes, from this point on, Milly becomes WILLY. By having her wish granted, her father also got one of his wishes granted, as he was begging Mrs. Niceman for another baby in an earlier scene, so that he can finally have a boy.

Apparently, to Mr. Niceman (played brilliantly by John Glover, might I add), having a son means training him how to box and swear in a home-made gym built in the basement. This scene is actually quite entertaining as Willy clumsily tries to incorporate curse words in everyday sentences, followed by another great scene of best friend Stephanie teaching Willy the key curse words.

At school, Willy befriends Alfie (Eric Gurry), a boy in a wheelchair who’s currently in therapy to not be in a wheelchair. Alfie has two pals who are basically Anthony Michael Hall’s buddies in Sixteen Candles.

The four boys get bullied by Harry (Jeb Ellis-Brown), who looks like he’s ready to break out into a Journey song at any given second.

This is something that Willy didn’t have to worry about as Milly, and they’re quickly discovering the downfall of being a boy. In addition to all of this, Harry’s sister Cynthia (Taryn Grimes) falls madly in love with Willy, another thing Milly didn’t have to worry about.

In a side plot, best friend Stephanie is starting to have feelings for Willy, her girl-turned-boy best friend. Willy is not interested, because it would just be weird, considering they have a 14-year history of being best friends as girls. Willy is also preoccupied with his new group of guy friends, so much so that Stephanie is starting to feel left out and abandoned.

Speaking of Willy’s crew of guy friends, Alfie is starting to experience feelings for Willie, making him question his sexuality. That’s another element that makes this film a bit different from Just One of the Guys, as in that film, Terry befriends Rick (Clayton Rohner), and she (as a boy) develops feelings for him, but he doesn’t have any in return, until he finds out Terry is actually a girl.

Alfie gets more and more distant, and Willy just realizes he’s losing all of his friends, and has to make a decision. I’ll leave it at that and not spoil the ending in case any of you care to see it, but I’m pretty sure you can figure out how it ends.

Overall, Willy/Milly was an enjoyable little flick. I thought the performances were fun and some jokes actually made me laugh out loud. A little strange at times, and while I do prefer Just One of the Guys, I do appreciate that this film dared to go where Just One of the Guys didn’t. Check it out if you have nothing better to do on a rainy afternoon.

Additional trivia: This wouldn’t be the last time that Pamela Segall (often credited as Pamela Adlon) would portray a boy, as she would be the voice of Bobby Hill on the hit Fox TV show King of the Hill, from 1997 to 2010.

My score: 2.5 / 5

Willy/Milly (a.k.a. Something Special)

Directed by Paul Schneider

Written by Alan Friedman, Walter Carbone and Carla Reuben

Starring Pamela Segall, Patty Duke, Eric Gurry, Mary Tanner, John Glover and Seth Green.

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