Movie Reviews for Class

Class

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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.

Movie Review: Another overlooked gem
Summary: 4 Stars

This is a terrific little film featuring a VERY young Andrew McCarthy and Rob Lowe, both perfectly cast and doing some of their finest work.

Yes, it's a 'sex comedy' (you can read the plot elsewhere) and yes, the women are rather thinly drawn (I felt especially sorry for the lovely Virginia Madsen who was reduced to an accidental breast reveal) but still there 's something touching about the story. I felt like they were striving to make this the GRADUATE for the 80's, but didn't quite make it.

You'll see a lot of familiar younger faces here- Cliff Robertson, Alan Ruck ,John Cusack, and Lolita Davidovich. All of them do a fine job and make this a fairly memorable story.

Movie Review: Was popular in 1983
Summary: 3 Stars

Worth owning for a taste of the sort of films that Hollywood released in droves in 1983. I admit I didn't love it when I first saw it then, because I expected more. And apparently the "more" should have been in it. That's right, this film was cut considerably then, so much so that Jacqueline Bissett felt the cut film did not portray her in the light she wanted. The end product sees her as a scathing nympho with no respect for anyone.

Hopefully, MGM will see fit to re-release this on DVD with the deleted scenes.

Movie Review: An Attractive Cast Gives Teen Movie Some "Class"
Summary: 3 Stars

Class is a teen movie that has a pretty good first half, thanks in part to a cast that includes Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Jacqueline Bisset, and John Cusack. Then, after Skip (Rob Lowe) discovers that his best friend and roommate Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy) has been sleeping with his mother, the teen comedy becomes overly dramatic and kind of boring. Worth watching once, though.