High School U.S.A.

1983 "Pick up your speed or get out of the way."
5.5| 1h40m| en| More Info
Released: 16 October 1983 Released
Producted By: Hill/Mandelker Films
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

Set in a senior high school class, J.J. pursues the girlfriend of a rival from a higher clique which culminates in a race at the end of the movie between the two rivals in this light comedy.

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Eddie_weinbauer I was flipping through fast rewind,and came across a couple of 80s movies I hadn't seen. Among them was High school USA with Michael J fox, And crispin clower. I was wondering how this had slipped under the radar back then,when we usually went head over heals for high school comedy.Turn out the reason for it was, it was the most unfunny thing I ever had seen. I don't think I laughed once.The acting was sub par even from Fox. Crispin is his usual strange self,which he is in all his movies.The plot that wimpy Michael J fox should try to steal the girlfriend of the coolest dude in school isn't believable. There's not any edge to him. A lot of the story lines just doesn't really go anywhere either,Which don't really help the film
hanoi_xan what makes this movie so cool is the 2 generations of teen stars. the students are played by the teen stars of the day like Michael j fox, Nancy mckeon and Anthony Edwards, but cast of teachers and parents include Dwayne Hickman, bob Denver and tony Dow. it's a silly teen romp of cliques and car races, but it's funny and stars everyone. many people went on to be huge stars, so seeing them all here together is so much fun. i first saw this movie at my grandma's house when it ran on cable, and i loved it. i bought it on DVD the first day it came out! stealing the show of course are crispin glover and Michael zorek as girl crazy nerds Archie and chuckie. it's worth the movie just for them. and to watch the freaks triumph, of course.
Mike K. update 12/2/2002: OK just watched High School USA again for the first time since my review 12 years ago. It's still not a great film,but it is fun and i'll give it a break since its a TV movie. It's actually neat to see so many 80's TV actors in one place (and no less than 4 from Leave it to Beaver!). Not much of a story: rich,preppy A-hole (Edwards) has sweet,cute girlfriend (McKeon) that nice,funny normal guy (Fox) likes. Fox and Edwards make a bet on a car race that will somehow determine who is the coolest guy in school and most likely win over sweet girl McKeon. whatever. Crispin Glover actually has more screen time than anyone but Michael J Fox. Crispin & Michael Zorek provide most of the comedy as Fox's loser friends. I'll raise my movie review to a 6 and add another point for Glover/Zorek to make my final grade a 7.Zep
Skip McCoy More people should watch this movie. I'm quite sure they won't enjoy it as much as my friends or I, but the cast is so fun that it's worth a look. Rowdy class clown J.J. (double J) Manners (Michael J. Fox) is certainly smitten after he bumps in to Beth Franklin (Nancy McKeon) in the hallway. Big problem though-she's dating Beau Middleton (Anthony Edwards) the cocky king of the preps! A class struggle ensues and it's quite wacky to watch it unfold. The supporting cast here is really interesting. You've got Todd Bridges and Dana Plato (Different Strokes), Crystal Bernard (future star of Wings) and a plethora of actors and actresses from older TV shows. Bob Denver plays Crispin Glover's pet supply selling dad. Tony Dow plays the high school's principle. There's even a scene where Anthony Edwards pulls and Eddie Haskell on Eddie Haskell himself (Ken Osmond). There's nothing too original about the plot of this baby (it is a TV movie after all), but it became really addictive for me and a couple of my friends. It's fun to throw quotes around from it. All in all, well worth a couple bucks to watch on video (although I haven't found it in too many video stores). Give it a chance with low expectations and I'm quite sure you won't be too dissatisfied.