Back to School

Back to School
by Alan Metter

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Movie Reviews of Back to School

Movie Review: Keith Gordon + College + Rodney Dangerfield = Comedy Classic
Summary: 5 Stars

The story actually begins in 1940, where young Thornton Meloni (Jason Hervey, who would become famous two years later as Fred Savage's older brother on the TV show "The Wonder Years") is being exhorted by his immigrant father to stay in school and not to take over his tailoring business. The kid ends up not listening to him and becomes a high school dropout, taking over the business and changing it to a "Tall & Fat Store" while taking the "i" off the end of his last name and making a fortune. The fifty-something adult Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) is having an awful second marriage to Vanessa (Adrienne Barbeau in full vamp mode), but is proud of his college freshman son Jason (Keith Gordon), whom he thinks is in a popular fraternity and on the school's diving team. Soon after arriving for a surprise visit, however, Jason admits the truth that he's not in a frat, is not popular and is, in fact, the 'towel boy' for the diving team. Jason wants to leave school because it's not going the way he thought it would. The tall, beautiful Valerie (Terry Farrell) won't even notice him, and his roommate and only friend Derek (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a complete weirdo with wild hairstyles that appear to change daily. Rich Dad has an idea: he'll enroll as a freshman himself and that will influence Jason to have a better time and to stay in school!

After pulling some strings, including donating a huge sum for a brand-new School of Business (it is, after all, not everyday that a well-respected university will take on a student who never finished high school, even someone as rich as Thornton Melon), fun-loving Thornton proceeds to throw his weight around, changing Jason & Derek's room into a plaza suite (complete with a hot tub), throwing awesome parties and even romancing his English professor (Sally Kellerman), much to the chagrin of her uptight boyfriend, Business professor Phillip Barbay (Paxton Whitehead), who would like nothing better than an excuse to drum the impudent Thornton Melon out of the university! Meanwhile, Thornton uses his considerable influence on Coach Turnbull (M. Emmett Walsh) to let Jason officially join the squad, which upsets the snobby star diver Chas (William Zabka) who suddenly finds himself competing for his girlfriend Terry, who begins to take a liking to Jason.

If this all sounds like too much plot for this 96-minute movie, let me just say that BACK TO SCHOOL makes very efficient use of its time (no slow points here), and equally good use of Mr. Dangerfield's comedic talents, that the plot itself is almost secondary to the one-liners Rodney uses in his usual self-deprecating way. Plus, the cameos are real fun, especially Kurt Vonnegut Jr. as himself, being hired to write a paper for Jason about--what else?--Kurt Vonnegut Jr.! The music is very upbeat 80's here (as you would expect for a movie of this type); however, it does mark the film scoring debut for Danny Elfman of Oingo Bongo who appears in the film (as themselves) performing their great classic "Dead Man's Party" (which, incidentally, had been on the soundtrack to WEIRD SCIENCE a year earlier).

Even if certain occurrences are patently unbelievable, such as the oral exam scene late in the film, BACK TO SCHOOL is so much fun to watch that it doesn't matter what happens, just as long as Rodney's and Gordon's characters win in the end and make us laugh while doing it. It is of definite interest to us Star Trek fans that Terry Farrell would eventually go on to play Lt. Dax on TV in "Deep Space Nine." Also, watch quickly for a cameo by Robert Picardo (who would join the aforementioned Jason Hervey two years later in "The Wonder Years" playing the dreaded Coach Cutlip, then later on joining Ms. Farrell in the Star Trek series in his wonderful role of the holographic Doctor) as the guy Thornton catches Vanessa fooling around with at a big party. Oh, and Sam Kinison is hilarious in a small role, playing himself as a shell-shocked History professor who never quite came out of Vietnam.

Everybody is great in this mid-80's comedy classic. Lastly, you have to love a Rodney Dangerfield movie that features a university dean by the name of Dean Martin (the always-wonderful Ned Beatty). BACK TO SCHOOL really takes us back to school on what a great film comedy should be. Add this one to your DVD library! Even with the lack of a lot of extras, it's still very much worth it.

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Summary of Back to School