Who is Judge Kavanaugh in 'St. Elmo's Fire?'
All week I've been wanting to watch "St. Elmo's Fire," that 1985 guilty pleasure, to see if Brett Kavanaugh was an extra in any of the nightlife scenes. After all, the film is set in Georgetown and follows the lives of 20-somethings that are much like those of Kavanaugh and his cronies (albeit, a bit older).
There is plenty of location filming likely made in 1984 when Kavanaugh and his best bud Mark Judge could have been part of. Even if he wasn't there, the film depicts what can be called The Kavanaugh Experience — entitled white prep school types transitioning to adulthood. Isn't the question at hand about Kavanaugh at this point in his life?
But which character from "St. Elmo's Fire" would Kavanaugh be? Is he the earnest Emilio Estevez, working his way through law school working at a bar? No. How about Rob Lowe, the dreamy heartthrob without any direction? Perhaps only in his partying habits. Or Demi Moore, the party-loving business woman on the brink? Again, guilty by association.
And then there's Ally Sheedy, an architect stuck in a love triangle? No. Don't think that was Kavanaugh's style from the sound of his dating habits revealed yesterday. Okay, how about Andrew McCarthy, the journalist looking for the meaning of life? No, don't think Kavanaugh would work in the Fake News industry.
This leaves two likely suspects. First, Judd Nelson, the ambitious political operative climbing his way up the DC ladder. Let's see: insincere, and taken to angry, drunken outbursts and something of a bully. It's a match.
But it is clouded only by Kavanaugh's own self-assessment, making him closer to Mare Winningham, the wallflower obsessed with Rob Lowe. Her Catholic school girl image fits what Kavanaugh said about his high school years perfectly: doing good works for the community, attending church, hanging with friends and having an occasional beer on the weekend. It is ironic, though, that Winningham's character Wendy more fits the personality that was the type of woman that Kavanaugh and Mark Judge would target at parties: unsure of themselves, introverted and prey to their bro ways.