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 1987 PG-13 / Teen Comedy Directed by: Starring: |
- At Ocean Front High, what do they call a guy who cuts classes, hates homework, and lives for summer vacations? Teacher.
Summary Capsule
- A slacker coach inspires students to scam companies, skip school and give birth.
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Justin's Rating: I'm hot for teacher
Justin's Review: As of writing this, it's the year 2008, a mind-blowing eighteen years after the 80's officially ended (although the decade did straggle on for a couple of unofficial years afterwards). The Decade of Me has gone from a recent memory to "remember when?" specials to old enough to be cool again, but sooner or later it's going to slip permanently into the same void where everything pre-1970's goes. Just plain "old" (in pop culture terms).
Yeah yeah, I know you've probably seen it, and my wife wouldn't stop jabbing me that I hadn't (that's a rare occurrence in our household, usually it's me who's seen everything and she's the neophyte). In any case, it really made my day to see this and know that these comedies haven't been trumped by modern gross-out flicks like Tropic Thunder and Superbad.
Directed by Ocean's 11's Carl Reiner, Summer School is about precisely that: the most horrid version of school ever to exist. Hunky Mark Harmon (Freaky Friday, NCIS) is Freddy Shoop -- your average 80's slacker rolemodel gym coach, lazy and witty and irrepressible - who gets strongarmed into staying behind during the summer to teach remedial English to the flunkies. This doesn't please our Hawaiian-shirted dude, but his tenure (?) depends upon it, so a-teachin' he shall go!
As with any comedy that demands a Whitman's Sampler of oddball rejects, Shoop's class contains a dozen or so bizarre teenagers with various personal problems - take that, Breakfast Club! There's the kid who's always asleep, the pregnant girl, the dyslexic girl, the wheezing geek, the space cadet, the football jock, a foreign exchange student (in summer school?), and a pair of fast-talking, gore-obsessed horror movie junkies (aka Dave and Chainsaw). They're all losers in their own special ways, and just as resistant to Shoop teaching them as Shoop wants to teach.
I think I've given you enough information for you to connect the dots, fill in the blanks, and complete the flow chart to take you safely to the end credits. There's going to be an unreasonable amount of goofing off and unsanctioned "field trips" (my favorite is the one to the petting zoo), a side love interest for Shoop (Kirstie Alley), a crackdown by "The Man", some actual inspirational teaching, and a big moment at the end where everyone stands up for the Awesomest Teacher In The World.
It's nothing deep or unpredictable, but it is pretty darn fun -- and funny. What I wasn't expecting is just how much Summer School made me laugh. There's an armory of explosive quotes ("We just got lapped by an old lady in a walker!"), and the quirky students are in constant danger of overshadowing the lacksidasical nature of Shoop. Toward the end there's a completely surreal scene of murder most foul, which plowed into me from my blind spot and knocked me over. I love it!
For all the fluff that it is, as sort of teacher myself, I have to logically side with "The Man" for cracking down hard on Shoop's antics. He's not a bad guy, not really, but he makes that fatal mistake that so many teachers do: wanting so very badly to be everyone's buddies that he eschews responsibility and common sense that he needs to actually lead. Let me put it another way. Imagine that there is a news headline tomorrow about a high school teacher who has done the following things:
- Bribes his students with "favors" to get them to do their homework and actually learn.
- Caught students drinking underage, but instead of bringing it to the attention of their parents, he tells the police it was his liquor and that he gave it to the kids himself.
- Shows an R-rated horror movie in class.
- Allows an underaged female girl - who has an obvious crush on him - to move in with him "until she finds a better place".
- Takes kids on all sorts of field trips knowing that they've all forged parental signatures.
- Throws a party at his house with booze.
Now, it's a silly movie, and Mark Harmon is such a puppy dog in it that you don't actually get too upset with him even though his character should be doing 5-10 in prison for his actions. But it's worth an eyebrow raise or two that he gets off from any consequence just because he was able to teach kids enough to bring them up to barely-failing grades.
A lesson for the ages, that is.
 "That's it for you, pal. Never again will you molest an innocent sea turtle on these shores."
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- Cats can live just fine in lockers
- The last day of school routine… man, I remember this!
- High school gym coaches get tenure?
- His name is Chainsaw? His parents must be so proud.
- Hee… "fart face"
- How much did those kids blow on the special effects?
- The Hawaiian shirt that Mark Harmon wears is the same exact Duke Kahanamoku model Montgomery Clift wears in "From Here To Eternity."
- The same school was used for the filming of The Karate Kid.
Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
Nope.
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
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In the scene where Shoop teaches his students how to write a complaint letter, some of the lyrics to the James Brown song "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" are visible on the blackboard at the front of the classroom. This is left over from a deleted scene in which Shoop diagrams (and sings!) the song for the class.
In a deleted scene, Shoop's class receives a free shipment of hair care products due to a complaint letter written by one of the students. During the classroom scene just before Shoop's courthouse appearance, these products can be seen spread out over the desks, with some of the students testing them on their classmates' hair. This is the reason Larry Kazamias's hairstyle is different in this scene than in the remainder of the film.
Groovy Quotes
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Chainsaw: We just got lapped by an old lady in a walker.
Dave: It was an accident. I'll take it again. I can fail, I know I can.
Dave: This menstruation thing? It's a scam! Women are so lucky.
Phil Gills: Would someone tell me what Mr. Shoop had planned for today?
Chainsaw: Group sex. No, that's tomorrow. Today is independent study, right after our mid-morning nap.
Pam: You want us to study?
Shoop: The thought did cross my mind.
Denise: Well, what's in it for us? What do we get out of it?
Shoop: Literacy?
Phil Gills: [the class is watching "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"] Oh my God. What are you watching?
Shoop: New film from the district, "Safe Use Of Power Tools".
Chainsaw: Our next field trip has to be to the beach.
Dave: We have to see Annamaria in a bikini. It's very important.
Chainsaw: Tension-breaker. Had to be done.
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This review page was last updated on 10.22.08
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