Making the Grade

In the few scenes he's in, it's the Diceman who adds the only flavor to this amateurish attempt at a teenage sex comedy. Lifeless screenplay and dull cast drive this right into the ground.

If any of you remember John Bender from The Breakfast Club, then Eddie Keaton of Making the Grade will seem familiar. They are similar, except that John Bender has more depth. Making the Grade is a silly, sometimes funny, parody of the "Preppy" Lifestyle. It makes fun of everything from wearing no socks, to the bright, peppy colors. It's an all around funny movie. This is Judd's first movie, and I recommend it to all of you who enjoy his work. For those of you who don't, I suggest you watch it anyway, and make an opinion for yourself...! *+*Anna*+*

I am a fan of 80s teen movies, as there were so many that were so good. However, this is no "Breakfast Club" which I think can be called the best 80s teen movie ever made. Judd Nelson is hot, but the flick is poorly directed and the sound is pretty bad. The characters are foolish at times- how is it Eddie goes from being ok with who he is to being a snob in about three scenes? I don't know. Cheesy? Most definitely. However, 80s teen movies are 80s teen movies. If you like them, see this, but don't expect one of the caliber of TBC.

You have to take this movie for what it is and when it was released. The characters are likable and the dialogue doesn't try too hard to be funny; it just is.

Granted, some of the appeal may be nostalgic at this point; it's hard to imagine how this looks to a first-time viewer today. OK, some parts are bound to be ridiculous; there is a break-dancing scene and accompanying music that are hopelessly dated... then again break-dancing does appear to be making a comeback.

I'm not a huge Andrew Dice Clay fan, but this movie is where the "Diceman" character originated.

The actor who plays Palmer Woodrow wrote the movie The Burbs, as it turns out.

Determined to watch every Golan-Globus movie ever made, I finally sat down to watch this years after it was released. To tell the truth, I wasn't expecting much. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty painless to sit through. The movie didn't have the crude edge of other teen comedies of the '80s, the cast was made up of a likable bunch of individuals, and there were several genuine laugh-out-loud moments. The funniest bits come from Walter Olkewicz's coach character; even though he was probably cast because he greatly resembles John Belushi, he is really funny, and it's a shame that he almost completely disappears from the second half of the movie.

However, the movie is far from perfect. Much of the time the movie seems to be spinning its wheels, where scene after scene goes by with little to absolutely no advance to the plot. It's almost like you are seeing a bunch of deleted scenes from the "special features" section of a DVD. At the same time, there are a lot of scenes that seem to finish much sooner than they should, as well as a lack of explanation about some things. Since the movie runs 105 minutes (quite long for a comedy), my guess is that the original cut of the movie ran much, much longer than 105 minutes. Then when they tried to cut down the movie to an acceptable running length, a lot of material that would have made the movie make more sense had to go.

As problem-filled as this movie is, there is something likeable about it all the same, enough so that you can't help but wonder what "Tourista", the sequel announced during the closing credits - that ultimately never got made - would have been like.