Review of Class (1983) by Terry E — 20 Mar 2010

It is years since I last saw this film and it was great that it turned up on TCM tonight. The story is rather simple, naïve poor boy goes to posh private school and ends up sleeping with, and falling in love with, his roommateâ??s mother, even though he doesnâ??t know who she is.

But the movie is more than that. As one of the â??brat packâ?? films of the early 80â??s it stands out to me for the depth of the characters involved. We know nothing of any of their back-stories, but can make some obvious assumptions as to where they came from. And, more importantly for me, the film ends on such a strange note with Skip and Jonathan fighting then ending up sitting together laughing following the filmâ??s final line â?? â??oh by the way, youâ??re mum called, youâ??re dog died.â?? This is such a metaphor for men through out the world who will argue and fight and yet an hour later be in the pub discussing football.

Aside from being the Feature debuts of Andrew McCarthy, Alan Ruck, John Cusack, Casey Siemaszko, Virginia Madsen and Lolita Davidovich, it is a great vehicle for Jacqueline Bisset and, of course, Rob Lowe who, not only showed his talent as an actor was also pretty fit as well.

Finally, if you see no other part of this movie, you have to see the â??tea partyâ?? at the girlâ??s school which is one of the funniest pieces of slapstick ever.