High School U.S.A.

"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.

I have seen this movie way back in my youth, sometime during the 1980s. I remember the movie's title, but I couldn't remember the actual contents of the movie. And I certainly didn't remember Michael J. Fox was in the movie. So as I stumbled upon the movie here in 2021, of course I jumped at the chance to revisit this 1983 movie.

It should be said that writers Alan Eisenstock and Larry Mintz definitely delivered a movie script that embodied everything about these types of high school comedies that were aimed at the younger audience with "High School U.S.A.", for better or worse. But as it turned out, I must admit that I definitely enjoyed this movie in its entire length.

The storyline is pretty straight forward, where I will actually lean towards going for a stereotypical storyline for a movie such as this. But it hardly mattered, because the story was good, enjoyable and was filled with good characters, and had an abundance of familiar faces on the cast list.

Now, if you grew up watching movies during the 1980s, then you are in for quite a treat here with "High School U.S.A." in terms of the cast assembly. They had so many good talents and familiar faces in this movie. It would be futile to mention them all, but trust me, the movie is crammed with them.

This movie is a very enjoyable one and it is a light-hearted one, so it makes for some very easy viewing. And that makes "High School U.S.A." a movie that everyone can sit down to watch.

I am rating "High School U.S.A." a six out of ten stars. This movie is definitely worth taking the time to watch.

This film totally bites! Not sure what high school the makers went to, but it was not your typical one. I hated high school myself, I was totally ostracized; however, there was no rich kid running the show and I found the Michael J. Fox types aplenty and found them insufferable. I also thought Nancy McKeon was completely unattractive and was on team Blair all the way! Seriously, this film is about unlikable people being unlikable and just plain stupid at times as everyone tries to one up everyone!

The story, well it's high school high and there are lots of 'stars' so we get a movie with lots of subplots. Of course, it boils down to Michael J. Fox being in love with Nancy and she dating the complete a-hole who is somehow class president despite alienating most of the school. We have teacher subplots too, but they come and go with the exception of the suck up teacher and the girl he is ashamed of for reasons I cannot quite fathom and with whom everyone already knows he is with. Everything comes to a head though as the annoying hero challenges the annoying villain to a race where unfortunately, they don't both die in a fiery crash!

The film features the rich kid who runs the school, but it is insane to the degree he does run it as he literally charges 100 dollars a pop for the school dance to keep out the lesser fortunate. Um, pretty sure you cannot do that no matter how wealthy you are. Also, why isn't this guy in a private school? Then there is the part where they put meat in Michael's backpack and a dog chases Michael and then everyone blames Michael. Why would someone want a German Shepard attacking them? And Crystal Bernard was great in the show Wings, but she was super annoying in this thing! I also wonder why Dana Plato and a few others made the opening credits but not Crispin Glover who was in this way more than most of the people in the opening credits?

So this film was not something I liked as I kept becoming enraged by the antics on display. The idea that someone could run a school so completely and quite frankly, I would rather see a fight than a race to settle things. Of course, this film did have dancing robot!

This movie has star power! From Todd Bridges to Michael J. Fox, this coming of age film is a must see for those who like watching famous stars "in their prime." Entertaining and informing, this film possesses a power beyond that of normal cinema.