Student Exchange

The closest Disney ever got to making a John Hughes movie. And it's a fun time.

It's basically Disney's take on Just One of the Guys. Just swap the gender-bending Terri with two uncool, invisible teens who decide to impersonate and rebrand themselves as mysterious foreign exchange students at their own High School. It sounds absurd but the film works, and their bad-girl / bad-boy Euro Beauty makeovers are a 10/10.

Obscure AF and underrated. Bellissimo!

I'd tie it with Not Quite Human and Rock and Roll Mom as the best Disney made-for-Television films of the 1980's. You can check it out on youtube, I believe.

An 80's time capsule, Student Exchange is evidence that teenagers looked like they were in their late 20's. The plot is very similar to a lot of late 80's high school dramas about not fitting in or changing your identity to fit in. Disney produced this diamond as part of their magical world of Disney selection that aired on Saturday nights during the summer. The Leads both show a striking resemblance to a George McFly quality from Back to the Future. Even without the glasses, it's obvious that these two represent the Geek population at this California based high school. The concept of being lost among your peers is present. The reality of this fear is showcased as the motivation to take on a new identity is hatched. A fun story that ends with a heartfelt moral. Although the setting is the 80's, the theme is universal. Holy large computers Batman. Student Exchange has withstood the test of time and has become a classic for what it is.

When I was about 7 years old and this movie came on television my mother taped it and I would watch it over and over again, I loved it. I have over the years lost the tape and would love to get a copy of if anyone knows where I can find one let me know or if anyone knows if it ever comes out on video let me know. I thought that this movie was very entertaining and it helped me learn that people are not always nice and sometimes you have to do things to get where you want. I think that television was a lot better than it is today. I loved it when Disney put this movies on Sunday nights, our family gathered around to watch a nice clean movie.

This was my favorite when I was little. If you like watching makeovers then you'll like seeing these two nerds transform into two of the most popular kids in school. This movie was a two part on the Disney channel. Luckily when my mom recorded everything that came on TV. So I still have it. Among other cheesy hard to find movies. I would compare this movie to Teen Witch. Just cause you get to watch the characters transform into popular students. I love the end of this movie because people have this idea of what an Italian or French person is gonna look like, but in the end they look totally different. I am going to be selling my library copy on amazon or maybe ebay. I'm just trying to get the word out to anyone who is interested in purchasing it. Soon I might even upload parts to utube for anyone to preview. So check it out if you're interested.

I never thought I would be able to find anything about this movie, luckily a link on heather graham's page took me here.

anyways, this movie was one of the great 80's makeover movie (see also "Can't Buy Me Love"). Basically the only plot twist is besides getting contacts, taking their hair down, getting new clothes, and somehow altering their school records, they also have to affect european accents. I don't remember quite how the guy pulled this off, but the girl did it by saying "umm how do you say..." before everything she said, as if she couldn't think of any english words to express herself besides umm how do you say. Well anyways, this is an ultra cheesey made for tv movie I only saw once, and barely remember. If this ever gets rereleased, see it if you loved the 80's as much as I did (ps. that means alot)