High School U.S.A.

update 12/2/2002: OK just watched High School USA again for the first time since my review 12 years ago. It's still not a great film,but it is fun and i'll give it a break since its a TV movie. It's actually neat to see so many 80's TV actors in one place (and no less than 4 from Leave it to Beaver!). Not much of a story: rich,preppy A-hole (Edwards) has sweet,cute girlfriend (McKeon) that nice,funny normal guy (Fox) likes. Fox and Edwards make a bet on a car race that will somehow determine who is the coolest guy in school and most likely win over sweet girl McKeon. whatever. Crispin Glover actually has more screen time than anyone but Michael J Fox. Crispin & Michael Zorek provide most of the comedy as Fox's loser friends. I'll raise my movie review to a 6 and add another point for Glover/Zorek to make my final grade a 7.

Zep

"High School USA" could have been a really good flick given the array of stars and up and coming talent, but that was not the case. Instead, it has a flawed script, awful direction, and a lame plot. This could have been a real classic but it ended up being a waste of time. Sad snap shot of the 80s!

High School USA is one of those sunday afternoon feel good type comedies. It is packed full of familiar faces which make the characters all the more endeering. This film has to be among my personal favorites almost solely on the merits of a classic comedic performance from Crispin Glover. His portrayal of nerdy misfit "Archie Feld" remains for me one of the most unforgetable and entertaining characters I've seen on screen. For those of you who didn't get enough of (Michael J.)Fox and Glover in "Back to the Future" you'll find more gut busting antics from the Duo here. High School USA is a hidden gem in American "High School" genre films and you will certainly enjoy this warm "hero wins the girl" adventure.

My friend had gotten this dvd as a "present" from her aunt and she made me watch it. While it was funny enough seeing Anthony Edwards as a popular prom king type and Micheal J. Fox was great, there was one teeny tiny presence that makes this movie memorable, a young geeky over-all wearing Crispin Glover. What makes it even better is that I had no idea he was in it. My sister and I were watching and when he popped into the scene I involuntarily leaned forward and was like, "Crispin? Woohoo!!" Oh anyways, the movie is not the most original thing but it was entertaining, the part where they wreck Archie's dad's car and make his dad think he did it was surprisingly very humorous. Plus, even if you don't mean to, you'll be finding yourself quoting this movie. Hope you enjoy it as much as me.

More people should watch this movie. I'm quite sure they won't enjoy it as much as my friends or I, but the cast is so fun that it's worth a look. Rowdy class clown J.J. (double J) Manners (Michael J. Fox) is certainly smitten after he bumps in to Beth Franklin (Nancy McKeon) in the hallway. Big problem though-she's dating Beau Middleton (Anthony Edwards) the cocky king of the preps! A class struggle ensues and it's quite wacky to watch it unfold. The supporting cast here is really interesting. You've got Todd Bridges and Dana Plato (Different Strokes), Crystal Bernard (future star of Wings) and a plethora of actors and actresses from older TV shows. Bob Denver plays Crispin Glover's pet supply selling dad. Tony Dow plays the high school's principle. There's even a scene where Anthony Edwards pulls and Eddie Haskell on Eddie Haskell himself (Ken Osmond). There's nothing too original about the plot of this baby (it is a TV movie after all), but it became really addictive for me and a couple of my friends. It's fun to throw quotes around from it. All in all, well worth a couple bucks to watch on video (although I haven't found it in too many video stores). Give it a chance with low expectations and I'm quite sure you won't be too dissatisfied.