This movie ended up making me feel like I'd been sucking helium or something. Fun, silly and kind of surreal. Similar feeling to watching Dazed & Confused... except in D&C at least there were somewhat realistic characters with somewhat believable lines. The characters in this movie are all cartoons with silly lines and over-the-top acting. Total drive-in movie fare. It's perfect for a bunch of friends to hang out and watch while drinking a bunch of beer. You don't have to follow the plot too closely to understand what's happening. It's got everything. Cool vans, pinball, bikers, hot chicks, disco dancing and a happy 70s soundtrack.
I actually had a kinda hard time placing the year when I first saw it. I thought for sure 80s but in the arcade scenes not one video game was visible and instead pinball machines seemed to be the big craze.
I have to say I liked this movie a lot and could see myself going back and watching it a few more times. I've tried to watch Meatballs again recently and found to my disappointment that I no longer enjoyed it but somehow this film has the perfect knucklehead teen comedy vibe. I only heard of this movie because the band Fu Manchu mentioned it as an inspiration... I was unable to find a copy anywhere until one showed up on e-bay.