Class
by Lewis John Carlino
List Price:
Our Price: $13.49
You Save: $1.49 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $3.49 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andrew McCarthy, Cliff Robertson, Jacqueline Bisset, Rob Lowe, Stuart MargolinDirector: Lewis John Carlino
Producer: Cathleen Summers
Producer: David Greenwalt
Writer: David Greenwalt
Producer: Jill Chadwick
Producer: Jim Kouf
Writer: Jim Kouf
Producer: Martin Ransohoff
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-11-21
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Class
Movie Review: Problems with Tone, but the Comedy Works and the Leads are Appealing.
Summary: 4 Stars
Looking at "Class" again more than 20 years after I first saw it, I found it a better movie than I remembered. I could only recall a mediocre teen dramedy starring two Brat Packers, but this script is as smart and funny as it is flawed. Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy) is a working class young man who attends a posh prep school his senior year in hopes of getting into Harvard. His introduction to Vernon Academy is a humiliating prank played by his rich roommate Skip (Rob Lowe), but after a few bumps, they become fast friends. Determined to help Jonathan out with the ladies, Skip packs him off to a pick-up bar in Chicago one weekend. In spite of his clumsiness -or because of it- Jonathan meets an exciting older woman named Ellen (Jacqueline Bisset), and they begin an affair. But Ellen eventually discovers Jonathan's age. And Jonathan discovers that Ellen is Skip's mother.
The prep school antics really are funny, not just tired sophomoric jokes. The scene of the Vernon Academy dance committee's disastrous meeting with their counterparts at nearby Foxfield girls' school is among the funniest slapstick I've seen. I like the rapport between Jonathan and Skip, characters from disparate backgrounds who share an easy-going nature. And Rob Lowe was looking his best in 1983. Andrew McCarthy looks pasty but still charming. I either never noticed or had forgotten the film's clever jabs at ideologues on both ends of the political spectrum. The leftist rich girls theorizing about the problems of the poor are hilarious. They're counterbalanced by the laissez-faire businessman who insists upon protectionist trade. "Class" is definitely not intended to be political, but it doesn't ignore what's going on in the periphery or underwrite those scenes.
"Class" has a confused tone after Ellen's identity is discovered, however. The change is abrupt and vacillates between the comic and the serious for the rest of the movie. The film seems not to know quite what it's trying to be at that point. I think that introducing Ellen's problems into the story was probably a mistake. It would have been better had she not had a personality change but simply acted as a person caught in an awkward situation would. But the comedic elements of "Class" are good, and Jonathan and Skip are an enjoyable duo.
The DVD (MGM 2000): The disc is 2-sided, with a full screen pan and scan version on one side and widescreen format on the other. The only bonus feature is a theatrical trailer. Subtitles are available in French and English. Dubbing available in Spanish.
Summary of Class
Rob Lowe (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me), John Cusack (Being John Malkovich) and Andrew McCarthy (St. Elmo's Fire) make their feature film debuts in this hilarious, sexy mixture of "fantasy and farce" (Boxoffice). Co-starring Jacqueline Bisset (Dangerous Beauty) and filled with lusty coeds, "wild times [and] outrageous scenes" (L.A. Movie Guide), this mother of all teen comedies is "pure fantasy for boys of all ages" (Boxoffice)!When wealthy prep-school senior Skip (Lowe) learns that his shy new roommate Jonathan (McCarthy) isa total loser at romance, he sends the aspiring young Romeo to the city to learn the ropesbeforehe ruins both their reputations. But when Jonathan is seduced by a sexy older woman named Ellen (Bisset), he begins a zany romantic miseducation that starts with a double major in lust and deceptionand ends with the uproarious discovery that not only is Ellen the woman of his dreams'she's also Skip's mom!As rites-of-passage films featuring a young man's sexual initiation in the arms of a beautiful woman go, Class (1983) has plenty going for it, not least its attractive cast: Andrew McCarthy as Jonathan, Rob Lowe as Gatsbyish best friend Skip, and Jacqueline Bisset as the beautiful woman who's old enough to know better and just happens to be Skip's mother.
Lewis John Carlino's film has moments of insight, taking a few well-aimed shots at the vaguely sinister network of private-school life. In the first reel it neatly subverts the bullying scenario that threatens when the geeky Jonathan arrives at the school, while offering the briefly intriguing sight of Lowe in scarlet bra and pants. And there's a subplot of deceit and complicity that both strengthens and threatens the friendship that rapidly forms between Skip and Jonathan. In many ways, though, the most interesting element of the picture--Skip's relationship with his dysfunctional family--is left unexplored. Jonathan's deflowering and subsequent interludes are merely titillating. And Bisset's Ellen, a desperately sad character, becomes superfluous once the revelation that she's the "teacher" sets the boys' friendship on the path to fraternal solidarity. --Piers Ford
Comedy DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in 80s Teen Sex Comedies
Ski SchoolTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-08-28; DVD
Best price: $7.61
Price in other shops:
ClassRelease date: 2000-11-21; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Losin' ItTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2001-02-06; DVD
Best price: $3.18
Price in other shops:
Just One of the GuysSONY PICTURES HOME ENT; Release date: 2004-02-24; DVD
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops:
Porky'sWILSON,ROGER; Release date: 2006-10-24; DVD
Best price: $7.61
Price in other shops:
Secret Admirer (1985) (Widescreen Edition)Release date: 2003-01-07; DVD
Best price: $8.17
Price in other shops:
Hot Dog...The MovieRelease date: 2003-08-05; DVD
Best price: $12.95
Valley GirlTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2003-08-05; DVD
Best price: $2.97
Price in other shops:
Senior TripRelease date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $8.26
Price in other shops:
Private LessonsLION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-02-07; DVD
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Sixteen CandlesUniversal; Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $10.51
Price in other shops:
Mannequin & Mannequin 2: On the MoveTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Private SchoolUniversal; Release date: 2007-03-06; DVD
Best price: $6.69
Price in other shops:
The Breakfast ClubUniversal; Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $11.14
Price in other shops:
The Sure Thing (Special Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2003-08-05; DVD
Best price: $2.96
Price in other shops:
Less Than ZeroMCCARTHY,ANDREW; Release date: 2002-03-05; DVD
Best price: $4.37
Price in other shops:
Just One of the GuysSony; Release date: 2004-02-24; DVD
Best price: $4.72
Price in other shops:
Some Kind of Wonderful (Special Collector's Edition)Paramount; Release date: 2006-08-29; DVD
Best price: $6.08
Price in other shops:
About Last Night...Sony; Release date: 1998-12-22; DVD
Best price: $4.19
Price in other shops:
St. Elmo's FireSony; Release date: 2001-11-20; DVD
Best price: $5.21
Price in other shops: