In the great pantheon of actors, no one will be including Corey Haim, but even the biggest haters have to admit he had his moment. Most will highlight his role in the 1987 mega-hit The Lost Boys, which was one of those movies every kid in high school that year seemed to see two to three times, then watched repeatedly on HBO and VHS when it was available. Some will remember him as Corey Feldman's out of control friend on The Two Coreys.
However, I was always a fan of his movie Lucas. If you have never seen it, you should run out and rent it today or put it on the NetFlix queue, especially if you ever felt like the whole world was against you, or you didn't fit in, or you wondered why your traits were not the ones that made you popular. Haim's Lucas was the sensitive, weakling nerd in school who, among other efforts, decides to try out for the football team to impress a girl. Unfortunately, she has eyes for Lucas's improbable buddy, the QB and Big Man on Campus played by Charlie Sheen.
Sure, it sounds like the set up for a wacky comedy, but writer/director David Seltzer focused on the kid's angst, pain and unexplainable optimism in the face of cruelty. Haim was perfect for the role bringing the right amounts of sweetness, anger and yearning every one of us has experienced in similar situations. Would he have had more roles like this if he avoided troubles with drugs? We'll never know.
For more about Corey Haim, click here, and here.
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