SNMR 6.28: "Summer School"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Summer School" (1987, PG-13, 97 minutes), starring Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley, Robin Thomas and Courteney Thorne-Smith> The film was directed by Carl Reiner.

PLOT SUMMARY: A high school gym teacher is forced to teach a summer school remedial English course to a bunch of underachievers at a California high school.

MY OPINION: "I'm Chainsaw."
"And I'm Dave."
(together) "We'll see you at the movies."

For me this is one of the most memorable lines of the film because it was one of the lines we frequently quoted in college. Even back then I was a big movie fanatic.

Which is why I find it hard to believe that this movie came out 22 years ago this week. This was, in my opinion, one of the most underrated comedies of the 1980's. I hadn't watched this movie in about fifteen years prior to watching it recently. I was amazed to find that the majority of the jokes in this movie still made me laugh. Veteran producer/director/actor Carl Reiner directed this movie and did an excellent job with a lot of unknown actors, buoyed by a few established actors (Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley) in the lead roles. At least one of the unknowns (Courtney Thorne-Smith) has gone on to a successful acting career (Melrose Place, According to Jim).

It's interesting that Harmon and Alley have had more successful careers in television than on the big screen. Of course, this film came out just as a still thin Kirstie Alley was beginning her successful stint on Cheers and Mark Harmon is still thriving on NCIS.

Yes, the movie is quite silly and rather dumb in the grand scheme of movie history but still a whole lot of fun.

*** out of *****