Amy HeckerlingCritiques

A year in the life of several high school students.

2.5/4 (Okay).

It's not an unpleasant place to be for 90 minutes, although it doesn't really have anything to offer in terms of either plot or jokes.

A rich, popular girl tries to use her powers for good.

Harmless. I imagine it would have been perceived differently in 1995 - so much about it was infused into popular culture, stuff that might have been quirky and a little weird back then just seems today like the 90s.

Concept: F
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: B

Enjoyment: C plus

GPA: 2.0/4

enjoyable romp thru the "Valley girl" world of high school romance, a little "spicey" at times--it is PG-13; once I realized it was a parody of Jane Austen's "EMMA" it was more fun to watch and see how the writers updated the events-- in the modern perspective.

Panned by the critics upon release, I still love it . A spoof of all those hard-boiled crime shows from the 1930s. Keaton plays the good guy gone wrong. Every crime movie stereotype you can think of is parodied in this one and both my husband I laugh every time we watch it!

Fun, but lightweight, modern version of Austen's Emma.½

Blazing Saddles
A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.

Caddyshack
At an exclusive country club, an ambitious young caddy, Danny Noonan, eagerly pursues a caddy scholarship in hopes of attending college and, in turn, avoiding a job at the lumber yard. In order to succeed, he must first win the favour of the elitist Judge Smails, and then the caddy golf tournament which Smails sponsors.

National Lampoon's European Vacation
The Griswalds win a vacation to Europe on a game show, and so pack their bags for the continent. They do their best to catch the flavor of Europe, but they just don't know how to be be good tourists. Besides, they have trouble taking holidays in countries where they CAN speak the language.

source: TMDB

The wild world of adolescence has rarely been captured with as sharp an observational eye as in this refreshingly smart, frank spin on the teen comedy by director Amy Heckerling and screenwriter Cameron Crowe—for each of whom it kicked off a hugely successful film career. Based on Crowe’s experiences going undercover as a student at a Southern California high school, Fast Times at Ridgemont High blends hormone-fueled hilarity with an almost sociological examination of the 1980s teenage experience: the shopping mall hangouts, fast-food jobs, buzzkill teachers, awkward dates, and first experiences of love and sex. This pop-culture touchstone launched to stardom practically an entire cast of unknowns—including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates, Judge Reinhold, Forest Whitaker, Anthony Edwards, Eric Stoltz, and Sean Penn as stoner icon Jeff Spicoli—and broke new ground in its raw yet sensitive depiction of the realities of coming of age. (source: The Criterion Collection)

Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking scale. Seeing herself as a matchmaker, Cher first coaxes two teachers into dating each other. Emboldened by her success, she decides to give hopelessly klutzy new student Tai a makeover. When Tai becomes more popular than she is, Cher realizes that her disapproving ex-stepbrother was right about how misguided she was -- and falls for him. (source: TMDb)

Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking scale. Seeing herself as a matchmaker, Cher first coaxes two teachers into dating each other. Emboldened by her success, she decides to give hopelessly klutzy new student Tai a makeover. When Tai becomes more popular than she is, Cher realizes that her disapproving ex-stepbrother was right about how misguided she was -- and falls for him. (source: TMDb)