Everybody's got their own personal list of "holy shit, you've never seen that movie?!" movies, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High was on mine until recently. Does it qualify for the list? I don't know, it seems like a popular enough title, it's a cult phenomenon so I guess I should see it sooner or later. Fair warning for you 5 people left that haven't seen it: there are some spoilers in here.
I guess the first thing I was surprised by was how, um, dirty it was? I guess? Excuse me for sounding like a dumb old lady, I mean, I have been around the block, let's stop being polite and start getting real! I just wasn't expecting it, because for some reason I always thought this was a light, breezy, teen "sex" comedy, but holy shit they tackle some heavy stuff! I KNOW, I KNOW, I was WELL aware of the very famous Phoebe Cates fantasy sequence and how she unbuckles her fruit basket, but that is literally the only thing I have seen from the movie, besides stills of Spicoli and that. Not only was there sex between an old 26-year-old creep and a 15-year-old girl, but there was also a bit of nudity (thumbs up, among other things) conversations about blow-j's, teen pregnancy, surfing, and masturbation. Hey Judge, lock a fucking door when you're jerkin' the bailiff! *slide whistle* Sure, in today's world that shit is on par with Legos, but 26 years ago it probably had parents dipping their kids' faces in the ether.
One thing that struck me was how awful some of the acting was, especially from the douchebag pictured above. "Hey, give them a break, they're just kids," you say. Fuck that, get some kids that can act! Jennifer Jason Leigh was holding back laughter every time she was on screen. And when the two of them are on screen together, well, put on your welding mask cause the sparks are about to fly!Stacy: Mike I just....I just want you to know that I'm pregnant.
Mike (reacting as if he just had a one dollar bill stolen from him): How do you know it's mine? I mean, we only did it once.
Stacy (unintentional deadpan): I haven't been with anybody else, I know it's yours.
Mike: Jesus. I mean, it was your idea, you wanted to do it, I....you wanted it more than I did!
Stacy (with the intensity of a dead animal): No. Take that back.
Mike: All right, all right, I take it back.
Riveting. Don't sweat it man, you just got a 15-year-old girl pregnant, happens all the time. Now get back out there and scalp those Van Halen tickets!
I really enjoyed Judge Reinhold in this, even though he was being typical slack-jawed goofy grin Judge (not a bad thing). I never really thought about it until watching Fast Times, but Jason Segel (a Judd Apatow favorite, star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the classic TV series Freaks and Geeks) really really reminds me of Judge Reinhold.
And then there's Spicoli, one of Sean Penn's defining roles, whether that pretentious, humorless, soul-sucking demon likes it or not. I am not from Cali (where we riot not rally), I have never been to the west coast, and I have never been around gnarly surfer dudes, so I can't say if his acting is extremely exaggerated, but it really seems like it is. That's probably just because he set the standard for what stoned beach bums should act like in the world of TV and film, and everyone that came after him has been a pale imitation. Spicoli is great, and an all-time classic movie character.
Another thing I love about this movie is its classic rock soundtrack. I mentioned earlier that famous scene with Phoebe Cates...it just would not be the same if The Cars weren't blasting over top of it. Or Stacy making her high school debut backed with Tom Petty's "American Girl". Or the scene with Rat & Stacy in the car listening to Zeppelin. Speaking of those two....
Amy Heckerling must've been thinking, "hmm, yeah, shoulder-level with the table, that seems about right. Normal people eat like that." Fuck. I know they're young but they aren't the fucking Littles. That scene drove me crazy for that reason alone. It HAD to be intentional, it just had to. Nobody would just accidentally make people sit that low at a table. And since it WAS intentional, it then must've been intended as funny, which is unfortunate, since it is fucking dumb.
Did I mention that this movie was a breeding ground for award winning actors? I've already mentioned Sean Penn, but I can't forget the rest of the celebrities-before-they-were-celebrities that pop up in the movie like...
This movie is entertaining without a doubt, but ultimately it's not very good, and is about absolutely nothing. It's more or less a character study focused on boring, average high school kids. With the exception of Spicoli, the epilogues aren't even funny or happy, they are just bland and mediocre, like "Brad made manager of MI-T-MART". WOW. At least lie to me and say he became a billionaire after inventing electric paperclips or just SOMEthing instead of that depressing bullshit.
Oh, and before I forget...
Friday, July 11, 2008
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982): Abortions are Mad Cheap
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