Andrew McCarthy says ‘Brat Pack’ stigma gave him PTSD — but other ‘80s stars don’t necessarily agree

nypost.com:

Hollywood’s Brat Pack.”Reading it today, David Blum’s article about hanging out with a group of movie stars with the world — and many women — at their feet as they hit Hollywood clubs and sow their wild oats seems tame and fun.But for McCarthy, now 61, the “Brat Pack” label ghettoized and diminished the actors, who were part of a talented new generation of young stars heating up the box office with movies like “St.

Elmo’s Fire” — considered the pre-eminent Brat Pack film — “The Breakfast Club,” “Taps,” “The Outsiders,” “Pretty in Pink,” “About Last Night,” “Sixteen Candles” and others.“Oh f–k,” was McCarthy’s first reaction to seeing the cover story, as he reveals in “BRATS,” a new documentary he wrote, directed and stars in.“I just thought that was terrible instantly.

And it turns out, I was right. The article was scathing about all these young actors. And the phrase being such a clever, witty phrase, it caught the zeitgeist instantly and burned deep and that was it.

From then on my career and the career of everyone involved was branded to the ‘Brat Pack,'” he says in the doc.“BRATS,” which premiered at the Tribeca Festival this weekend and begins airing on Hulu Thursday, is McCarthy’s somewhat head-scratching journey into what was, for him, the heart of darkness of that bygone era immortalized by Blum’s catchy phrase.“We were branded as ‘partying, wanting to have a good time, get famous’…,” he says in the movie.“I’ve never talked to anybody about what that was like.