One Paragraph Movie Review: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

One hundred and fortieth film: Fast Times at Ridgemont High. With the single exception of Sean Penn offering up the best cinematic uttering of the word “gnarly” of all time when his biology teacher pulls a heart out of a corpse, I’ve never understood why people like this movie. It’s like it’s trying to wedge itself, with its comedy, sex, boobs, and coming-of-ageness, between Porky’s and American Pie, but without the gritty realism of either. Realism is attempted, primarily when one character has an abortion, but even that scene seems plonked in purely to tick a box, and is undertaken with the apparent boredom of all involved. Every single plot point and character is given a cursory amount of care and attention, so none of them end up being believable, moving, funny, or worth bothering with. What’s truly remarkable is that the junior versions of later Hollywood uber-stars don’t even help it — the cast is like a laundry list of people who became famous in spite of appearing in this movie. I don’t get it. One teenage Pat Benatar look-alike out of five.