How I Got Into College

Corey Parker delivers an affable performance as Marlon Browne, a generally uninspiring high school student. He is, however, highly motivated to apply to Ramsey College, since the high-achiever dream girl (Lara Flynn Boyle) whom he adores has her heart set on the place. He then gets caught up in the various machinations of the entire cutthroat college-recruitment business.

Although a step down from his previous classic 80s comedies, this effort from "Savage" Steve Holland ("Better Off Dead", "One Crazy Summer") gets by on some goodwill, and some very good moments. It may not be particularly inspired itself (at least, not enough to generate any true belly laughs), but it handles its satiric elements pretty well. All in all, it's entertaining enough to watch, and benefits from its very likeable cast.

Boyle is endearing, especially when her self-esteem takes a real hit. Top-billed Anthony Edwards does typically engaging work as an admissions officer at Ramsey. The supporting cast is packed to the brim with familiar faces: Phil Hartman and Nora Dunn (as shady tutors), Brian Doyle-Murray, Philip Baker Hall, Richard Jenkins, Charles Rocket, Christopher Rydell, Finn Carter, Bill Raymond, Bill Henderson, Robert Ridgely, etc. Fans of Hollands' previous movies will note the cameos by Taylor Negron, Diane Franklin, Curtis Armstrong, and Dan Schneider. Particularly funny are Bruce Wagner and Tom Kenny as A and B, the guys in Marlons' frequent math problem fantasies.

Pleasant overall, and reasonably funny, but no ball of fire.

Six out of 10.

There are a couple of great ideas in this movie. One is its ingenious approach to math problems. The other is a scene in which Jessica, while waiting for her college interview, is forced into the realization that she is considerably less unique than she thought.

The result is a movie with pockets of hilarity broken up by long stretches of vague amusement. This is, for the most part, a cookie-cutter teen comedy that often doesn't even seem to be trying. The premise and every vagary of the plot is stupid and poorly conceived, the lead actors, except for Boyle, give broad, forgettable performances, and one imagines the movie was written in an afternoon on a gum wrapper. It does have a few good moments, but it's not really worth bothering with.

This is an amusing story that highlights that blasted college admissions process. The story follows several soon-to-be high school graduate's plans for the future. For Marlo (Parker), it's going to whatever school his dream girl Jessica (Flynn Boyle) is going to. For Oliver, it's giving into the white line fever and experiencing life Jack Kerouac style with the possibility of meeting "renegade game show hostesses" on the side. But, for most of the students in the movie, it is all about getting into college. We see the whole bit of it, taking the SATs, college recruitment day, college prep programs, and the dreaded admissions interview.

It's quite an amusing exageration of the whole process, and probably more likely so for kids actually going through the college application process. Although, the movie, at least for me, is sometimes funny and sometime not so funny, on the multiple occassions that I have seen it. I like the idea of the living SAT's with the fate of word problem person A and B resting on Marlo's selection of answers. I like the running gag about admitting a pig among the admissions officers. Despite the fact that the actors are too old to play teenagers (except Oliver and Wanda), it is a nice little movie about kids stuck in a nerve wracking situation hoping to just make it through things.

Good light entertainment that never quite passed into the mainstream, despite featuring several performers who later became better-known: Anthony Edwards before he lost his hair and became a famous TV doc, Corey Parker before he became a caricature of himself, and Lara Flynn Boyle before she became a skeleton. A lightweight and quirky farce about the college admissions process, this bit of fluff also has a really nice heart, plus fun performances by Finn Carter as Edwards's true love and Chris Rydell as Parker's ultracool best friend.

Director / writer Savage Steve Holland had churned out some influential 80s teen classics such as the John Cusack starring "Better off Dead" and "One Crazy Sumer". Getting into college or simply choosing what to do after high school is the stepping stone in to the big world. It's a life decision that points you in the direction. Stress… confusion… indecision. Holland beautifully captures this in his third entry (which I never even heard of until now) of this type of teen fodder; "How I got Into College". It might not hold up to his previous efforts, however it's an enjoyably breezy and light-headed finding your feet fable namely sold by its welcomely fresh and sound performances by leads Corey Parker, (a delightfully freckle-faced) Lara Flynn Boyle and Anthony Edwards. Also the support; Finn Carter, Bill Raymond, Philip Baker Hall, Charles Rocket, Tichina Arnold and Christopher Rydell are notably good too.

We follow that of Marlon who has his eyes set on the highly respected, top of the class Jessica, but he has never been game enough to confront her. However he sees college the chance to do so. He decides to aim for the same campus she's applying too, but it's not going to be any easy walk through the park.

Maybe I didn't find the characters and interactions as memorable and comical as in Holland's earlier films, but there's no doubts that hanging off it is an amusingly witty and creatively inspired script that seems to have that oddball sense despite probably keeping it a tad more in check and favouring the romance sub-plot. It's quite forward and slight but never lets the stereotypical inclusions take over; in doing so it gave it a more random air and warm feeling within its grounded framework. Also there are some amusingly bright cameo roles by Phil Hartman, Nora Dunn, Diane Franklin, Taylor Negron, (playboy model) Rebecca Ferratti and Curtis Armstrong.