Review of Student Exchange (1987) by Mloy X — 20 Oct 2012

Kathy "Mopey" Maltby (Maura Tierney): They let 17 year-olds drink wine?

Carole Whitcomb as Simone Swaare' (Viveka Davis): No, but who dates 17 year-olds?

I first watched this in 1987 and remembered liking it a lot back then. I recently watched it again on Youtube and still liked it; in fact, I may actually love it now! A definite guilty pleasure. I don't know what it is that made me so fond of this film: the whole premise is silly and like most Disney films, thrives on the notion that all adults are stupid. One has to completely suspend disbelief and all logical thought in order to even fathom that any scenario like this would actually occur in real life, let alone be successfully executed by tennagers (yes, even the Ivy League-bound ones).......but there is just something so charming about this film that one can't help coming along for the ride, not matter how ridiculous it may seem. Todd Field (Neil Barton/ the fake Adriano) and Viveka Davis (Carole Whitcomb/ the fake Simone) were both such alluring wallflowers and (onced transformed) beguilling cons that one can't help but cheer on their crazy scheme. But like any asinine stunts, this too proved to be ill-fated and their bufoonery exposed. Unfortuantely to Disney, "punishment" is a foreign concept and "chastisement" is not in their vocabulary, and like many of their films, the good-natured hero/heroine although the cause of so much trouble eventually is forgiven and as is in the case of this movie, even rewarded for the ill-concieved chaos they caused, punctuated by the whole moral message that "they really stood out after all"...... aaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww, and everyone lived happily ever after. (How can Disney get away with this kind of b/s propaganda?).

Nevertheless, like I said, for some reason I really enjoyed watching the film again and found it thoroughly entertaining despite reason and my brain's constant protest that the whole film was a little idiotic..... charming, but idiotic.