School's Out!

Every fan of the original show MUST see this. Your Degrassi experience is not complete without it.

Dark? Yes. But for a show showing a realistic take on pre-teens and teens and growing up this is a great way to end the original series. Some happy endings and some jaw-dropping tragic moments. Pretty much everyone who was on the show the last few years is in this at some point. It doesn't go the pat happy ending that most shows would have pulled. They let some characters really screw-up. I loved that it went this far.

It's worth it for that classic Caitlin line to Joey at the climax. Fantastic, envelop pushing material.

I picked this video up at the Library because I have heard of it through the Kevin Smith movies (he always refers to the show in his movies). Though I never have seen any of the show, I figured, what the hell. I have to say, this is a good video. I am very interested in seeing more of the show.

The plot is this: All the kids graduate and go through one crazy last summer. Pregnancy, drunk driving, infidelity, and teenage marriage are all in the mix, along with some awful 90's music. All and all, a very neat way to show what happens when you grow up.

I watched this for the first time since it was originally aired at the time it was done. Since that time, I have watched all of the Degrassi shows to the present. Wisely, the writer chose not to include every student but focus on core characters. This made the film sharper, with a lot more cohesion to the plot. The characters in Degrassi always seemed real and this film highlights that. The acting is very good, the actors at times are seemingly ad-libbing their lines. It was a groundbreaking film also, apparently the first time an expletive was used on Canadian television. Think about it: What was the U.S. version of Degrassi? Saved By The Bell! In Degrassi, the characters made mistakes and lived with them. This film highlights the time after high school. It does it admirably. I have nothing but praise for this production. They could have made it a fairytale film, marrying a few couples off and watching as everyone else prospers. They chose to depict real life. They did a great job.

Degrassi School's Out is the wonderful climactic end to the Degrassi series, which was centered around a bunch of regular teenagers going to Degrassi

High School. School's Out is chock-full of drama and heartache, not to mention sex and alcohol. It's actually a really realistic representation of most teens' summers right after graduating from high school. It's also refreshingly natural, everyone looks the age they are supposed to be, and every female isn't some

beauty queen poster girl for breast implants. It's actually altogether quite a poignant film, particularly if you've seen the show that preceded it. It makes you really want to know what happens after it ends. Great movie.

The first time I ever watched this movie was back in 1994 when I was living in a small town called Gildford located in the northern part of Montana. I watched the whole movie with one of my nephews and enjoyed it all the way through but I expected more after it came to its ending. I used to watch reruns of the Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High episodes everyday when I got home from school while living in Gildford and I always loved and cherished those shows because of how enjoyable and true to life they were. I now own the complete series of Degrassi Junior High on DVD and I just received a brand new copy of the School's Out movie on VHS and after watching it once again after almost twelve years, it really is much better the second time around. It didn't exactly have the happiest of endings but that's what made the story so believably realistic. I absolutely love this movie and consider it a wonderful conclusion to the Degrassi Old School storyline.

I rest my case.

~Mr. Make Believe