For Keeps is a
1988 movie starring
Molly Ringwald and
Randall Batinkoff as Darcy and Stan, two high school seniors in love. Complications ensue when Darcy becomes
pregnant just before graduation and decides to keep her baby. This movie is noted for being Ringwald's final "teen" movie, and is cited as one of her most mature performances, particularly in a scene where Darcy is suffering from
post partum depression after the birth of her child.
Plot
In
Kenosha, Wisconsin, Darcy, editor at her high school paper, and her long-term boyfriend Stan are in their final year of high school and already have been accepted at good colleges; before Darcy goes to college to study
journalism, she'll go on a trip to
Paris with her mother for her graduation present, while Stan will go to
Caltech to study
architecture. With the help of Darcy's best friend Lila (
Sharon Brown), they spend a weekend together, where they sleep together and Darcy becomes pregnant. They announce the news at Thanksgiving, and neither Darcy's mother Donna (Flynn), who was abandoned by her husband and brought up Darcy alone, nor Stan's Catholic parents (Mars and Ferrell) are very supportive. Respectively, they urge the young couple to have an
abortion or give up the baby for
adoption. Darcy plans to have the abortion, but doesn't go through with it, to Stan's relief.
At Christmas, the kids announce their plans to keep the baby, causing a break between them and their parents. They rent a decrepit apartment and get married to the cheers of their friends. On the advice of her guidance counselor, Darcy drops out of high school but works toward her
GED. Prom is interrupted by Darcy's water breaking; although baby Thea is healthy, Darcy suffers from
post-partum depression, refusing even to hold her daughter, and Stan struggles to pay the bills on a part-time job salary. Only when Darcy hears an intruder (who turns out to be Stan's father) and picks up her baby protectively, does she break from her depression.