High School High

High School High (1996)

Genres - Comedy, Romance, Crime  |   Sub-Genres - Absurd Comedy, Parody/Spoof  |   Release Date - Oct 26, 1996 (USA)  |   Run Time - 86 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - PG13
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Review by Karl Williams

Strictly for devotees of the broad, farcical humor of the Zucker and Farrelly variety, this spoof of high school dramas targets everything from Blackboard Jungle (1955) to Dangerous Minds (1995) and does so in the least intelligent way possible. Always an irritating presence, star Jon Lovitz proves why he's had a more difficult time than his Saturday Night Live co-stars with breaking out of supporting roles. Of course, it's not all the actor's fault. His character, Richard Clark ("Dick Clark," get it?) is a total zero, a blank slate onto which any sort of motivation or backstory could be believably grafted. Disappointing but understandable is Louise Fletcher's decision to throw in the towel on her career by once more giving into Hollywood's insistence that she play only cruel, bitchy villains in the mold of her Oscar-winning Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Add to it an underlying tone of racial bigotry and misogyny -- so prevalent in this type of juvenile proceeding -- and High School High ends up with a big, fat grade of "F," which does not stand for "funny."