My Tutor

My Tutor would have been another useless teen sex movie if not for the superb performance of Crispin Glover. There are some funny moments throughout the film, and it's definitely worth 90 minutes of your time. Be sure to check out the freeze frame at the end of the movie, it's ludicrously tragic, and tragically ludicrous. Success!

Lovers of the 1980s sex comedy genre should have a pretty good time with "My Tutor". It's quite likable and amusing throughout. It's not exactly in the same mold as something like "Porky's", and doesn't really deliver any belly laughs, but that's not the point, as it treats its central relationship with a surprising amount of sensitivity. Handsome Matt Lattanzi stars as Bobby Chrystal, a teen who has flunked his French course. Since his dad (Kevin McCarthy) is stubbornly determined to make his son go to Yale and study international law, the course must be passed. So the dad hires a live-in tutor, Terry Green (the lovely Ms. Kaye) to instruct the boy for the summer. What the virginal Bobby doesn't expect is to fall in love with the young lady. While "My Tutor" isn't as raunchy as some viewers may hope, it does have its entertaining farcical moments here and there, many of them courtesy of co-star Crispin Glover, as Jack, one of Bobby's two buds who accompany him on the quest to experience sex. It's quite a hoot to see Glover strapped to a big wheel by a whip wielding dominatrix; also early on in the picture Bobby is paired with an extremely well endowed prostitute (Kitten Natividad, whose main assets can be seen in all their glory.) But providing a solid anchor for the movie is the portrayal of the evolving relationship between tutor and student, and it's beautifully played by Kaye and Lattanzi. Adding to the appeal of "My Tutor" is its obvious made-in-the-80s feel, complete with upbeat theme song. The actors are all good, with Arlene Golonka playing Bobby's mom, Jewel Shepard ("The Return of the Living Dead") as the sexy phone booth girl, and future director Katt Shea as one of the mud wrestlers. One subplot with Terry's stuck up former boyfriend (Bruce Bauer) trying to worm his way back into her life does have a mildly entertaining payoff, but one has to wonder why another story thread - that of finding out that the Chrystals' hired help have been putting on an act - was created, as it never really goes anywhere. By the end, we can't help but feel good for Bobby when he finally decides to stand up to his dad and vow to go ahead and study astronomy at UCLA, which is what he really wants to do. The characters are engaging, and with some of the female cast members showing off their bodies, one can't really ask for much more than that. Overall, "My Tutor" is pretty good for its genre. Seven out of 10.

In reference to the previous user comment: I was one of those fortunate enough to go though puberty shortly after this film was released. Not a great movie, by any means, but for those of us to young to go into the "back room," this movie was a perfect answer. Unfortunately (or very fortunately, depending on how you look at it), they don't make films like this anymore. Teensploitation movies now are all very farcical and don't even try to take themselves seriously. Once you get past all the T&A, in this movie, you start to feel sorry for the actors in this movie who actually have some talent. They seem to be trying very hard to make a good film while carrying some of the blandest people ever to grace the silver screen. If you long for some fond memories, pick this up on a boring weekend while everyone else is out of town.

Cut from the same cloth as Private Lessons (1981) and Risky Business (1983), coming-of-age teen sex comedy My Tutor is pure male fantasy fulfilment, in which virginal teenager Bobby Chrystal (Matt Lattanzi), desperate to pop his cherry, is handed the answer to his problems by his parents when they hire sexy tutor Terry Green (Caren Kaye) to help him pass his French exam.

Having had several sleazy but unsuccessful sexcapades with his equally desperate best friend Jack (the always excellent Crispin Glover), Bobby is more than happy to start learning about 'les oiseaux et les abeilles' from his tasty teacher, who not only knows her way round a french verb, but being a decade older than him, is also pretty familiar with the workings of a man's body!.

Opening with a roomful of women suggestively wriggling, jiggling, gyrating and thrusting their way through an aerobics routine, My Tutor is all about the irresistible allure of the female physical form, and barely a minute passes without some gratuitous female nudity on screen. Naturally, this makes for perfect fodder for hormonal teenage boys, but in addition to all the bare bums and breasts, the film also manages to pack in some remarkably solid performances from its likable leads (whose acting careers really deserved to have been better) and quite a bit of heart as well, Bobby not only discovering how to have fun on his back but also learning to stand on his own two feet against his overbearing father (Kevin McCarthy).

While it's a little far fetched, perhaps, to believe that the young, athletic and clearly very handsome Bobby wouldn't be the centre of attention for girls his own age (maybe it has something to do with his somewhat effeminate voice), My Tutor is still extremely enjoyable nonsense for the duration.

I saw this movie when I was a kid and since the plot has been gone over numerous times I won't even get into that. Suffice to say, what you see is what you get. This movie falls into the "male hormone" genre of movies but it really wasn't so bad, the movie was tasteful compared to some of the garbage that's out today and it actually had a somewhat interesting plot with decent chemistry among the leads so girls could actually find it watchable as well as males. The setting was quite pretty as well. Make no mistake though, this is geared directly toward the teenage boy. The movie doesn't even try to be original but I liked how both the leads characters' were actually-well-developed somewhat. The movie's main flaw is the totally awful title but for what it is it's all right and I'd actually rate it a 5 or 6, you could do worse with a movie of this type.