Fast Times At Ridgemont High

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know I'm a bit of a failure at times, and the proof lies within this post. Ladies and gentlemen, I HAVE NEVER SEEN FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH! I know this is supposed to be one of the old classic comedies that EVERYONE'S seen, but if it's not something that I was allowed to watch growing up, chances are I STILL haven't caught up on it! The ONLY things I know about it is that Sean Penn plays a surfer/stoner dude named Spicoli, and that Cameron Crowe wrote it when he was in his mid-twenties. Now THAT makes me feel like more of a failure than not having seen the film. I should have written a screenplay that's in production by now! *sigh*

The trailer hints at NOTHING in the plot. I always watch these "classic" films and hope that they're actually funny and hold up. We'll see. I'm actually thinking that I won't be all that impressed for whatever reason. I'm tough to please when it comes to comedies, and ESPECIALLY older ones.

I come into this review with head to toe body armor on, though I offer no apologies. I guess in short, my reaction to Fast Times would be "...and...?" I wouldn't necessarily say that it was 90 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, but it is, like I suspected, a film that hasn't aged well over time. One of the only 15+ year old movies that people STILL talk about that I hadn't seen til recently and STILL holds up is T2. My whole life, everyone talked about Goonies. I finally saw it at 20 years old and it held no weight. I think it's because I didn't grow up with it. Movies that I watched as a kid that just don't have that special spark to those that didn't grow up with them would have to be (in shortlist form) Newsies, The Labyrinth, The Muppet Movie, Drop Dead Fred, Real Genius, Flight of the Navigator. Others that DO hold up would have to be (in my opinion) The Sandlot, Field of Dreams, Groudhog Day, Grease, The Breakfast Club.

I guess I just expected more of a (dare I say) plot (?). I mean, yeah, it chronicled high school kids, but I didn't feel like there was a typical set up, problem, resolution like in most films, but it wasn't "different" or "edgy" enough to veer from the standard patteren of that. Crowe's film Almost Famous could get away with straying from the cookie cutter a bit for some reason, but Fast Times was less successful. I'm almost starting to think (that being from the so-called MTV generation,) people around my age almost NEED either the quick cuts or twisted plot lines in order to keep us even remotely interested! I say this with a great generalization, but I think it holds a bit of truth regardless. We can look back at special effects and laugh at how prehistoric the technology was. The ADR in Fast Times is atrocious - that's probably a completely unnecessary side note though.

It WAS interesting in seeing so many current stars pop up on screen here and there though. I almost had to double-take when I saw Nicolas Cage (who was then Nicolas Coppola) in the crowd at the football game. Crazy, right? I guess I understand the nostalgia of it, but unless there was NOTHING else on and I was simply channel surfing, I probably wouldn't take the time to watch Fast Times again.

In short, I personally, would have to say thumbs down, though I DO understand how others like it. I will stand firm by Bio Dome til the day I die even though I know how terrible others think it is!