Summer Job

I recently revisited Summer Job (1989) on Tubi. The storyline follows a group of college kids assigned to a summer job taking care of a pool area at a resort. Each of them has different motives, from wanting to be cool, to scoring chicks, and simply having a good time. Their efforts are overseen by a young lady tasked with keeping them in line.

Directed by Paul Madden (Medium Rare), the film stars Sherrie Rose (Unlawful Entry), Jim Pelish (Runaway Dreams), Amy Lynn Baxter (Karate Warrior 2), James Summer, Karen-Eileen Gordon (Legally Blonde 2), and Cari Mayor (Lauderdale).

As a childhood favorite of mine, I must have watched "Summer Job" a hundred times on HBO growing up. It captures the classic 80s vibe from the opening song onward. The humor, content, premise, and circumstances evoke the spirit of films like "Police Academy" and "Porky's." The attractive cast members provide the expected dashes of topless nudity, adding to the film's appeal. While the characters are easy to root for and the storyline is straightforward, the direction and conclusion is predictable.

In conclusion, Summer Job may not be groundbreaking, but it's worth your time if you have the appropriate expectations. I'd give it a 4/10 and recommend seeing it once.

I gave SUMMER JOB a 5 out of 10. An explanation is surely in order, because I happen to think this is a bad movie: a comedy without many jokes, written and directed on a level that would need more work to pass muster in a high-school film studies class.

Yet a 5 it gets. Why? Because SUMMER JOB was one of the first T&A comedies I ever rented at Blockbuster (I didn't rent all of the other ones, just some of them) and even though it was stupid, it was also harmless, had the "good people" winning out at the end over the jackasses and witches, and didn't have pretensions of being more than it was. In fact, the movie's stupidity made it more, not less, fun.

This video probably won't be available--to the extent it's really widely available--once video stores start following Blockbuster's lead and replacing VCR tapes with DVDs, so I wanted to say my peace on it before it disappears, for a movie that is bad yet not easy to forget, try as one might.

"Summer Job" is billed as a sex comedy, I suppose, but it fails on both counts: it's tame and unerotic and, at the same time, thoroughly unfunny. The characters are stereotypical, the acting is poor, the humor level low and nobody would accuse the film of intelligence. However, all this imbecility seemed inoffensive to me, maybe because it never gets downright sleazy, and the film is certainly a lot less boring than several "high-profile" motion pictures.

My review was written in May 1989 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

Unbelievably in theatrical release Stateside, "Summer Job" represents the nadir of the teen sex-comedy genre, an amateur-night film deficient on all levels.

Plotless wonder, with seven producers credited, including underachieving scripter Ralph Wilson, runs through tired sight gags and stupid dialog that is so badly acted and mechanically executed one can only marvel at the cynicism of its makers.

Sherrie Rose is the young supervisor of college kids working at a Florida resort for the summer. There's some practical joking, fraternizing with grotesque guests and boring partying. None of it works or is the least bit diverting.

Paul Madden's minimalist direction repeats camera setups in the manner of early D. W. Griffith, avoids camera movement and omits any hint of action footage. Apparently some pretty girls dropping their tops for a second or two is supposed to justify the rest.

Flat line readings are par for the course, while the token nerd is overplayed embarrassingly by thesp billed as simply Geoge O.

Cannes Market audience laughed only once, when a foppish waiter ineptly took a stab at reciting French dialog.

This movie is about fun in the sun, chasing girls, and having a good time on your summer vacation. Filmed in a beautiful location, some guys and girls get jobs and then chase each other around and have a great party at the end with some cool music which says, " you've got the power to do anything you want to." This is a movie thats great to rent on a saturday night when you're with your girlfreind and you just want to laugh and have a good time. Relax, turn off your brain, and reward ourself with this excellent movie. one of the great things abut this movie is that you feel like you're free. You can be free with this movie. Think what you want to think. do what you want to do. Relax and try not to take life so seriosuly. Rent this movie and veiw it. You wont regreat that. I'd give this movie an A-plus, 10 out of 10. Enjoy, and relax