How I Got Into College

Corey Parker delivers an affable performance as Marlon Browne, a generally uninspiring high school student. He is, however, highly motivated to apply to Ramsey College, since the high-achiever dream girl (Lara Flynn Boyle) whom he adores has her heart set on the place. He then gets caught up in the various machinations of the entire cutthroat college-recruitment business.

Although a step down from his previous classic 80s comedies, this effort from "Savage" Steve Holland ("Better Off Dead", "One Crazy Summer") gets by on some goodwill, and some very good moments. It may not be particularly inspired itself (at least, not enough to generate any true belly laughs), but it handles its satiric elements pretty well. All in all, it's entertaining enough to watch, and benefits from its very likeable cast.

Boyle is endearing, especially when her self-esteem takes a real hit. Top-billed Anthony Edwards does typically engaging work as an admissions officer at Ramsey. The supporting cast is packed to the brim with familiar faces: Phil Hartman and Nora Dunn (as shady tutors), Brian Doyle-Murray, Philip Baker Hall, Richard Jenkins, Charles Rocket, Christopher Rydell, Finn Carter, Bill Raymond, Bill Henderson, Robert Ridgely, etc. Fans of Hollands' previous movies will note the cameos by Taylor Negron, Diane Franklin, Curtis Armstrong, and Dan Schneider. Particularly funny are Bruce Wagner and Tom Kenny as A and B, the guys in Marlons' frequent math problem fantasies.

Pleasant overall, and reasonably funny, but no ball of fire.

Six out of 10.

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.

There are a couple of great ideas in this movie. One is its ingenious approach to math problems. The other is a scene in which Jessica, while waiting for her college interview, is forced into the realization that she is considerably less unique than she thought.

The result is a movie with pockets of hilarity broken up by long stretches of vague amusement. This is, for the most part, a cookie-cutter teen comedy that often doesn't even seem to be trying. The premise and every vagary of the plot is stupid and poorly conceived, the lead actors, except for Boyle, give broad, forgettable performances, and one imagines the movie was written in an afternoon on a gum wrapper. It does have a few good moments, but it's not really worth bothering with.

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.

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.