Review of Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) by Danjo S — 14 Jan 2013

This movie blast from the 80s is hilarious and memorable among many things, but is it just another lost movie of the MTV generation?

PLOT:School's starting this year at Ridgemont High and each student has their own set of interesting goals. Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) wants to score high with the older guys in school with help and advice from her friend, Linda (Phoebe Cates). Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) has a huge crush on Linda and wants help asking her out, which he recieves from his best friend and concert ticket scalper, Mike Damone (Robert Romanus). Stacy's brother, Brad (Judge Reinhold), has just recently lost his girlfriend and is now also having trouble finding a solid job to hold onto. Jeff Spicoloi (Sean Penn) is a pothead, surfer dude who plans on breezing by school, to the dismay of his history teacher, Mr. Hand (Ray Watson). These are the life and times of Ridgemont High. It's a pretty good plot executed greatly.

ACTING:The performances in here are pretty good. The best and most iconic performance would probably have to go to Sean Penn as the memorable Jeff Spicoli. Every line he says is funny and memorable, as I said before. The other shiners were Jennifer Jason Leigh as Stacy Hamilton, Phoebe Cates as Linda Barret, Robert Romanus as Mike Damone, Brian Backer as Mark Ratner, and Ray Watson as Mr. Hand. However, some acting was iffy, such as Judge Reinhold as Brad Hamilton. He had his good moments, but wasn't that good of a performance.

SCORE:The soundtrack is made up of many upbeat, 80s songs from artists such as The Go-Gos, Jackson Browne, Oingo Boingo, Joe Walsh, and many others including one track by Led Zeppelin. Needless to say, it was a pretty accurate and cool soundtrack.

OTHER CONTENT:This was a really great movie overall. It was hilarious, emotional, relatable, and just fun. It's actually a pretty iconic comedy. However, this does have a couple of flaws. Unlike Dazed and Confused, this one's not as good at pulling off having a very thin plotline. In this movie, you actually remember that there's no plot and it's not as easy to get lost in as D&C. Also, this one can get a bit cheesy from time-to-time, which makes it nearly lost in the 80s generation of teen comedy.

OVERALL,a great comedy with a greatly-executed plot, good acting, fun soundtrack, hilarity, emotion, relatability, and a lot of fun, but its plot line is noticeably thin, and it can get cheesy from time to time.