Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) Movie Review
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) Movie Review
I’ve seen a whole lot of teen movies over the years – high school movies, coming-of-age films, you name it. Movies about teenagers strike a chord with me that other movies don’t, probably because I’m a teenager myself. By now, I’ve seen almost all the major teen movies: The Breakfast Club, American Pie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, etc. There are still a few I haven’t seen, but if there’s a classic high school movie, chances are I’ve watched it. Up until yesterday, I hadn’t seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which is widely considered one of the best teen movies out there. So I saw it, and I must say, I was blown away. Not since Lucas have I seen a movie about young people so realistic. Fast Times blends almost all the teen movie elements together – edgy characters, gross-out humor, dramatic romantic tension, illegal activity, and more into one big melting pot. Even though this movie is stacked with subplots, it works. It works so well. The script is beyond fantastic. This is the type of movie that pays attention to details – details that make it stand out from the sea of other films that try to be what it succeeded in being.
The movie takes place over one full school year at Ridgemont High School in Southern California. There are lots of characters, and all of them are wrapped up in their own conflicts. Brad Hamilton (Judge Reinhold) is an athletic senior at Ridgemont who has a steady job and a faithful girlfriend (Amanda Wyss). When he loses both of these things, Brad is forced to take another look at where he’s headed and what he should do once high school is over. His sophomore little sister Stacy (Jennifer Jason-Leigh) is making her debut in the dating field, and almost immediately gets wound up having to make her way through the web of boys that want to take her out, while also remaining true to herself. One of those boys is Mark Ratner (Brian Backer), one of the biggest nerds in the school who is a wimp, but plans to win Stacy over with his inner kindness. Stacy and Mark both have older mentors who help them through the eventful school year. Stacy has Linda (Phoebe Cates), her friend who works at the mall and goes to school with her. Linda is experienced in love but can’t seem to find anybody to actually pair up with. Mark confides in the seedy Mike Damone (Robert Romanus), a senior who sells concert tickets as a side hustle. Mike is self-motivated but tries to help Mark out the best that he can; however he doesn’t always succeed in this. And then there’s Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn), the airhead surfer who is in a year-long fight with his uptight history teacher, Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), who isn’t happy about Spicoli’s carefree antics.
There’s something for almost everybody to relate to in this movie. I’m not even in high school yet, but I’m already like “yeah…that is how it is.” Almost nothing is over-exaggerated (except for a scene where Spicoli orders a pizza to the classroom he’s in) or overly silly. Fast Times at Ridgemont High had the potential to be really, really stupid. Instead of going for a cheap, lousy comedy about kids having sex, which is what this film could’ve been, the filmmakers opted for a much more thoughtful approach. The movie explores all the struggles of growing up as a teenager in the best way possible. Instead of being aggressive, shocking and in-your-face about showing audiences the hardships of being young, it’s more like slowly peeling back to reveal these things. It’s a really sweet portrayal of life, honestly. It’s brutally realistic and embarrassing, but not in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable or disconnected. A lot of the laughs either come from the slightly absurd but somehow believable situational comedy, or just the extreme awkwardness of the characters whenever they’re around each other. People who haven’t seen this movie might assume it’s just a loud, irreverent, mindless film where teenagers make dirty jokes and exhibit bad behavior. It’s not really like that. Almost no one in Fast Times is a role model, everyone has their particular flaws of course, but you can tell it’s a movie about real people. Everyone knows a Stacy. Everyone knows a Mark. Everyone knows a Spicoli. Or at least they did when they were in high school. This movie is as real as it gets when it comes to portraying daily life for teenagers. There’s plenty of somewhat inappropriate humor in this movie, but it’s never presented in an eye roll-inducing way, just the way it is in real life. You can tell the filmmakers, Amy Heckerling (director of Clueless) and Cameron Crowe (director of Almost Famous) have a genuine respect for teenagers and really did their best to portray them in a challenging but non-exploitational way.
Safety Chart:
Violence: 1/10 - A convenience store almost gets robbed, there’s a quick fight in that scene with a gun (nobody gets shot). Some pushing and shoving.
Drinking/smoking: 7/10 - It’s obvious that several characters are regular pot smokers and are seen doing it. References to being stoned.
Language: 7/10 - Curse words of varying degrees of seriousness are used by most characters.
This isn’t really a movie for kids. If you’re cool enough to watch it, then you definitely should, but this is not a family film.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is one of the best movies I’ve seen all year. It’s easily one of the best teen movies I’ve ever seen, too. If you like comedies or coming-of-age films, then this is definitely the right movie for you. It’s also got an amazing soundtrack. This movie deserves its status as a classic and is the kind of film you want to watch again as soon as it’s finished. I can confidently say that Fast Times at Ridgemont High deserves an A+ as a grade. They really knocked it out of the park with this one. Another thing this movie does is it makes me excited to go to high school. I’m going to start high school in the fall, and hopefully then I can have some fast times of my own.
