with St. Elmo’s Fire. McCarthy appeared alongside Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, and other young performers. The movie followed recent college graduates struggling with adulthood, relationships, careers, and identity. Reviews were often unfavorable, but commercial success and the young cast turned the film into a defining artifact of 1980s popular culture. McCarthy played Kevin Dolenz, a journalist whose emotional reserve concealed complicated feelings for a friend. The role suited the understated qualities audiences had already begun associating with him.
The movie also connected
