I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) is a pop-culture scared cow that needs to be skewered. I'd rate it a 2 out of 10 for being a surprisingly inept and poorly scripted 1980's "classic."I just don't understand the fervent popular reverence for this movie among people in my age bracket. It was a minor legend when I was growing up. I was a fourth grader in 1982, and gradeschool boys could be divided into two groups: 1) those who had seen the "Phoebe Cates pool scene" and 2) those who had not, but wished they had. When I mentioned on social media a couple of months ago this year that I'd never actually gotten around to seeing this movie, my friends were roundly astonished.Why do they think this film is indispensable viewing? Maybe there's something I'm missing. I'm tempted to group "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" together with other beloved 80's films that just don't resonate with me -- like the understandably campy "Tron" (1982) or the unexpectedly sleep-inducing "The Big Chill" (1983). (I couldn't even finish the latter.) But I can't compare, because I know those movies are objectively good in a lot of ways, even if they weren't to my taste.Nor am I squeamish about raunchy sex comedies. (C'mon.) I pretty fondly remember "Porky's" (1981), "Porky's II: The Next Day" (1983), and "Revenge of the Nerds" (1984). I mentioned "Porky's" to the friend with whom I watched "Fast Times" -- I told her that it wasn't highbrow entertainment, but I still remember it being crudely, blasphemously funny.This movie was just a thinly scripted small collection of vignettes, with no overall plot outside of teenagers having sexual encounters that are ... awkward and bluntly sad, for the most part. (Sean Penn's character does drugs.) The dialogue is terrible. None of the characters are likable -- even the story's nerdy, well-meaning protagonist is grating.I didn't really laugh once at anything the director intended -- I only laughed at the haircuts and the clothes. I just can't believe that the screenwriter here was Cameron Crowe, who also wrote what is possibly my favorite movie of all time -- the widely but unfairly maligned "Vanilla Sky" (2001). (Crowe apparently adapted the screenplay from a novel he wrote.)There is some enjoyment to be had in watching Penn's stoner character. It was fun seeing a well known serious actor in an early comedic role. Penn is a decent character actor, and it looks like he was having fun. I do get why kids in the 80's found him funny.It's also fun seeing the handful of other young actors who would go on to great careers (Judge Reinhold is always funny) but, again, this is something that the filmmakers can't take credit for.Hey, if you want a slice-of-life dramatic comedy about teenagers in the 1980's, then go rent "The Breakfast Club" (1985). It wasn't perfect, but it was damn good movie that tackled many of the same issues as this movie, but with intelligence and effective humor. Or, try the oddball "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986). Both movies portray teenagers in the 80's who are smart, likable and emphathetic, in varying degrees. I myself went to high school in the 1980's, and I assure you they were around.

Just by the 1st scene, I knew I will be thrilled by this movie: the 80s, a mall (for me a place of constant happiness, even without buying), teens and their n° 1 care: relationships! Frankly, compared to my french experience, those high scholars had everything to be happy, enjoy every moment of this time and maybe later feel deeply nostalgic about it… Maybe the movie is not accurate for every one, but i see that those teens had their personal room in family houses > in France, we lived all together in old, decaying buildings! Their study seems light (MCQ) > in France, we are in high school for 40 hours by week, almost like a job, with a lot of studies, papers, exercises to learn after the bell! Students come to schools in car, even if they are wreck > In France, we take fully loaded public transports! So at the end, in America, people have space and intimacy while in France it's hard to have such control… In addition, the movies happens in the 80s so that means that there were exciting music (ever heard about melodies?), cool clothes (there is something else than G-string for girls and sportswear for boys)… Finally, the cast is awesome because it's a class of future Hollywood big names and with what they do here, you can understand: Jenny is particularly moving in her discovery path, Penn is unrecognizable in the dunce, the Rat embodies that at the end good heart wins over good look, etc… So instead of being the usual crazy comedy involving teens, this one is really focused about realistic slices of life and that's why it's so interesting and gripping. It's a sort of American Graffiti, 20 years later!

I had to do some checking on Phoebe Cates' biography before I went ahead with this. She was born in 1963. She was barely 18 when they started filming. To the credit of the producers, they might even had to have wait until she achieved that age.When released, the picture was (justifiably) slapped with an "X" rating. Not triple X, but X. Which, in and of itself, is okay. For instance, "A Clockwork Orange" originally was given that rating, and appeals by Kubrick, even after having trimmed it, were denied by the MPAA. It still, nonetheless,wound up being nominated for Best Picture (it lost to "The French Connection"). Yes,"Fast Times..." is not merely in bad taste...it's ultimately irresponsible. That notwithstanding, the movie, on another level, is somewhat poorly directed. The segment with the Football game shows Forrest Whitaker tearing it up when it appeared that the other school were the guys who destroyed his car...he was mistaken)..Tragically so. Watch it carefully. It shows only the hits that he administered. You look and say, wait a second. He himself didn't get crushed at least once during any of the four quarters? It just rings false to me, that's all.

... before zero tolerance and before hand held computers. It is a year in the life of a bunch of high schoolers, accent on Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh), 15 years old. The first thing you notice in the first shot of the film is the traditional mall - people used to have to go OUT to shop, or meet other people or do anything else. The internet is 15 years in the future. Furthermore, teenagers used to work at minimum wage jobs in the mall for spending money. At some point in the past 35 years this got to be beneath them.Stacy works at a pizzeria with her friend Linda (Phoebe Cates). The mild mannered and rather non-descript looking Mark Ratner who works at the movie theater has a crush on Stacy. Both Mark and Stacy get very bad advice from their friends Mike Damone and Linda, respectively. Judge Reinhold plays Stacy's older brother, a senior in high school. He takes life just a little too seriously and thinks he has life by the reins. Life is about to teach him differently.Meanwhile the inexperienced Stacy is actually believing the advice Linda is giving her, who says she is in a long distance relationship with a much older boy. The adults in the audience can tell that Linda is obviously lying about her experience and is clueless about the value of the advice she is giving out and even how this so-called boyfriend of hers sees their relationship. Linda doesn't know the difference between sex and love because sex is still a thing of wonder to her, and she is leading Stacy down the same road to - if not ruin, heartbreak - that she is on.Now I'm making this sound like some kind of tragedy, but it is also extremely funny. This is almost like Charlie Brown because although you hear about the adults, they are seldom seen except for the no-nonsense history teacher Mr. Hand played brilliantly by Ray Walston. Then there is Mr. Hand's nemesis Jeff Spicoli also played brilliantly and just a little too genuinely by Sean Penn. Spicoli is a stoned out guy who fancies himself a future surfing champ and really has no place in his life for rules and schedules, the stuff Mr. Hand lives and dies by. Don't worry, Mr. Hand gets his revenge in the end, and not by failing Spicoli either. Mr. Hand is smart enough to know that would only hurt Mr. Hand. When I say Penn plays Spicoli just a little too genuinely, Penn said in an interview one time that playing Spicoli was easy for him because all he had to do was channel his teen aged self.Highly recommended as a bit of a cross between Clueless and "The Last Days of Disco" as far as relationships and the sexual revolution go. It's a look at teen aged life when we didn't take ourselves quite so seriously.