How I Got Into College (1989)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

A Masterpiece!

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A bit of a disappointing entry from Savage Steve Holland, after the wacky promise of "Better Off Dead" and "One Crazy Summer." There's nothing wrong with the movie. It's quite as good as, if not a cut above, a lot of the teen/high school/college movies going around theaters in the 1980s. I hoped it might be a wacky satire on the struggle to get into college -- a kind of "Johnny Be Good" with laughs and biting satire, which "JBG" lacked.Instead, the movie is a comparatively straightforward effort from Holland, perhaps because he was not the original director but inherited a mess from someone else.Corey Parker makes an engaging lead. He lacks the aplomb of John Cusack, Holland's previous star, but he does a good job as a guy who is unlikely to get into either the college or the girl.The girl is played by Lara Flynn Boyle ("Twin Peaks") in a surprisingly funny role. The girls in movies of this ilk usually are the ones who have it together. In "How I Got into College" Boyle's character starts off having it together but it starts coming apart early and only gets worse.Anthony Edwards ("Revenge of the Nerds")is a disappointment . It's not really his fault. He's stuck with a blah role that comes off blah. There isn't much he can do but play it straight. The cast surrounding Edwards, including Charlie Rocket playing one of his patented jerks, does not often interact with the rest of the characters in the film. A subplot involving Tichina Arnold is rewarding but too serious for anyone expecting an in-kind followup to Holland's previous movies.The biggest disappointment is that the snooty, exclusive college comprising the hub of the picture is treated with reverence. A place like that might have been ripe for Holland's brand of satire. The movie might have been even better if it revealed the small college as a cliquish club, and represented the struggle to make it as ultimately futile. Instead, entry into the club is treated as a prize worth winning.Still, the movie has lots of humorous touches, whether from the writers or from Holland. A marathoner puffing on a cigarette while he runs. Curtis Armstrong (a Holland regular) as a Bible-college spokesman (warning, targeted to be offensive to religious sensibilities). And the whole preppy-girl story arc. Oh, and Phil Hartman in a tiny role. And the biggest laugh I got came from the pay-off about the girl with the orthodontic head-set.If you've seen Mr. Holland's opuses "Better Off Dead" and "One Crazy Summer" and hope for more of the same, you're mostly out of luck. This is a relatively intelligent, serio-comedic, treatment of the struggle of teens to find an institution of higher learning, which occasionally deviates into unexplored Savage Steve territory.

Savage Steve Holland's films should be considered gems amongst pop culture comedy. How I Got Into College is one shining example of his few too many films. In this clarified and easygoing flick about college stress, it accurately portrays irrational teenage fears with the help of an endearing front-man, Marlon Brown. The humor is quirky and unexpected, but that's a part of what makes it funny. The best part about Holland's humor is that it is always out of this world and always honest at the same time, creating a world that a lot of people are familiar with in their own heads. This movie can be enjoyed by college hopefuls, kids or old fogeys like my grandpa, who loves it. Some highlights include the young Lara Flynn Boyle, Phil Hartman in his prime and SAT ridicule that will make every high school kid breathe more easily.

Corey Parker, who has a lot of screen charisma by the way, plays Marlon and he's in love with Jessica, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, when you could still see her if she stood sideways. Marlon is so in love that he's decided to go to the college of Jessica's choice, Ramsey College. Anthony Edwards is Kip, who recruits for Ramsey and admits to Marlon that he's heard of worse reasons for wanting to go to a specific college, so Marlon and his friend Oliver (played by Christopher Rydell, son of director Mark Rydell, and if he looks familiar, it may be because you remember him making the wisecrack 'I didn't know they had gas back then' to Henry Fonda in "On Golden Pond") go to Ramsey to check it out. Various other students attend, the most interesting of which is Vera, a feisty girl working at Mickey D's who has college aspirations but whose mother is wary of her daughter ending up disappointed.Comedy is hit and miss. Sometimes brilliant, sometimes flat. Tons of cameos (Curtis Armstrong, Taylor Negron, Bob Eubanks (!) and Brian-Doyle Murray) are enjoyable. Coming in at a svelte 88 minutes, you've done a lot worse. 7/10.

Just looking at the box of this movie made me want to watch it. Big Mistake! This movie is a boring satire of student life as they are trying to get into college. yawn. Did someone say eighties prep hormone B film? This is a sad excuse of a movie with a wasted cast, including the late Phil Hartman who shall be missed. And Anthony Edwards was obviously wearing a wig.