How I Got Into College

This movie starts off staggeringly well, and I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me for enjoying it so much. Well, after the first twenty minutes, I found that this movie was only average at best, with only the occasional chuckle and a great deal of silliness. Yet, I would still recommend this film, because the beginning is not only hilarious, but it was enough to get me caring about the main characters. The great opening was also important in that it changed my attitude regarding the film. I stopped looking for reasons to hate the movie, and I started looking for positives. Sure, everything progressed predictably, but you don't watch teen comedies expecting a cliffhanger ending. If you are someone who can appreciate brainless entertainment, then this is a good film for you to watch.

This is an amusing story that highlights that blasted college admissions process. The story follows several soon-to-be high school graduate's plans for the future. For Marlo (Parker), it's going to whatever school his dream girl Jessica (Flynn Boyle) is going to. For Oliver, it's giving into the white line fever and experiencing life Jack Kerouac style with the possibility of meeting "renegade game show hostesses" on the side. But, for most of the students in the movie, it is all about getting into college. We see the whole bit of it, taking the SATs, college recruitment day, college prep programs, and the dreaded admissions interview.

It's quite an amusing exageration of the whole process, and probably more likely so for kids actually going through the college application process. Although, the movie, at least for me, is sometimes funny and sometime not so funny, on the multiple occassions that I have seen it. I like the idea of the living SAT's with the fate of word problem person A and B resting on Marlo's selection of answers. I like the running gag about admitting a pig among the admissions officers. Despite the fact that the actors are too old to play teenagers (except Oliver and Wanda), it is a nice little movie about kids stuck in a nerve wracking situation hoping to just make it through things.

Corey Parker, who has a lot of screen charisma by the way, plays Marlon and he's in love with Jessica, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, when you could still see her if she stood sideways. Marlon is so in love that he's decided to go to the college of Jessica's choice, Ramsey College. Anthony Edwards is Kip, who recruits for Ramsey and admits to Marlon that he's heard of worse reasons for wanting to go to a specific college, so Marlon and his friend Oliver (played by Christopher Rydell, son of director Mark Rydell, and if he looks familiar, it may be because you remember him making the wisecrack 'I didn't know they had gas back then' to Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond") go to Ramsey to check it out. Various other students attend, the most interesting of which is Vera, a feisty girl working at Mickey D's who has college aspirations but whose mother is wary of her daughter ending up disappointed.

Comedy is hit and miss. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes flat. Tons of cameos (Curtis Armstrong, Taylor Negron, Bob Eubanks (!) and Brian-Doyle Murray) are enjoyable. Coming in at a svelte 88 minutes, you've done a lot worse. 7/10.

Good light entertainment that never quite passed into the mainstream, despite featuring several performers who later became better-known: Anthony Edwards before he lost his hair and became a famous TV doc, Corey Parker before he became a caricature of himself, and Lara Flynn Boyle before she became a skeleton. A lightweight and quirky farce about the college admissions process, this bit of fluff also has a really nice heart, plus fun performances by Finn Carter as Edwards's true love and Chris Rydell as Parker's ultracool best friend.

I enjoy watching How I Got Into College every once in a while, as I do Savage Steve Holland's other two films Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer. Sure, they're all rather tame films on a PG level but Holland has such a great wit and always chooses a wonderful cast. This makes for enjoyable entertainment where you can actually care about the characters and get a few laughs in as well.

Corey Parker plays a high school senior intent on winning the affections of class president Lara Flynn Boyle, even by planning on going to what ever college she decides to attend. Sounds like a typical formula for a teen comedy, but instead of guys sneaking peeks at girls in the locker room and burnouts scoring weed, we're treated to a rather charming, breezy comedy about people instead of working a film around breasts, drugs, and the latest favorite band.

Cory Parker, Anthony Edwards With Hair, Lara Flynn Boyle, and even supporing players like Nora Dunn and Phil Hartman all do a great job with the light material and with Holland's clever wit, it all adds up to a good time. Sure brought back memories of my adventure into selecting a college.

It's really unfair to pick apart this film. It is what it is, light and fun. When there are so many raunchy flicks like Fast Times At Ridgemont high to ad nauseum, it's refreshing to see a film like How I Got Into College to just kick back, watch, and have a smile. No harm in that!