Getting Wasted

This 1980 title was part of the movies included in the "Toga Party" set put out by Brentwood. Having had viewed most of the others in the collection, I decided to watch this one because of Brian Kerwin (Torch Song Trilogy) and Cooper Huckabee (Funhouse). First person recognized is Ronnie Claire Edwards (The Walton's Corabeth Godsey) who plays Brad's (Kerwin) mother. Others in the cast is Stefan Furst and David Caruso but where the hell is he? He plays someone called Danny but I never could figure out which one he was. Anyway, it was an interesting flick with the exception of many blank spaces that looks like reel changes, so I decided to order the movie by itself, thinking there might be additional scenes that were deleted, and hopefully a better quality print. Guess what? Yes, the DVD I found was also released by Brentwood and is exactly the same - running time, blank spaces and C-grade quality. Had I known this copy was also from Brentwood, I would have saved money by not ordering. And for in-store sales promotion, they even put a more recent picture of David Caruso on the cover - hoping face and name recognition will entice people to buy.

As one of the other commentators has mentioned, the first thing I thought of when I saw this film was POLICE ACADEMY. GETTING WASTED feels like a dry run for that '80s classic: it involves the rookie cadets at a military academy involving themselves in '60s counter culture and the usual sex and drugs of that decade.

It's also an unsurprisingly forgotten film, unsurprising because in reality it isn't very good. The jokes and humour are lame and predictable, and none of the characters are well defined or particularly likable. There are no big name actors or future stars here, just a mess of folk who never aspired to greatness.

I was also surprised at how restrained this film is. Comedies from this era are usually raunchy and padded out with copious nudity from the ladies, but there's none here (unless the version I saw was edited for TV). The drug jokes are tame and there's no real plotting or drama; just a series of loosely-linked situations playing out for supposed laughs that never transpire.

Great, if you like low budget cult like trash and the like. Generally adolescent humour. Check it out if you can. I've watched it a couple of times, taped off tv, and I would watch it again. I thought it was funny!

Despite a low budget, this no frills unpretentious made-for-TV movie I found to be very enjoyable. It's silly and mad-cap. I found it refreshing when I watched it on a late night satellite channel. It's a pity there aren't more like this.

The cast gel together well and the direction and editing are reasonably slick. It was produced at a time when made-for-TV movies were often better than what was at the box-office.

Don't listen to those who say it's a load of rubbish - it isn't! It captures the period nicely and there is a clever use of some of the best songs of the time. I'd like to get the DVD, but it doesn't do the movie justice by all accounts.

Plenty of wild-party-flicks came out in the wake of ANIMAL HOUSE, and GETTING WASTED -- trading college for a military academy -- co-stars Stephen Furst, literally the biggest geek in HOUSE and one of many pot-smokers here that are... well... GETTING WASTED (or more like pretty buzzed)...

And when new guy Brian Kerwin shows up in the bunkhouse... after being driven to the academy while Buffalo Springfield's counter-culture anthem For What It's Worth plays... he gets along with the local cadets instantly, especially cool guy Cooper Huckabee and second-string sidekick Ken Michelman...

What's lacking is tension, or anyone (or anything) to rebel against since the officers running the school are pointless, and during random excursions to the beach-dwelling exterior... the late-1970's pretending to be the late-1960's... there's one forced love interest, a couple of wacko acid-heads and a gang of 11th hour bullies...

Yet the good times still roll, even though -- backed by a jukebox of other classic-rock artists from Donovan and Canned Heat -- these kids are out to rebel anyway possible but... set during the generation when GETTING WASTED was commonplace... it's hard to tell the cadets from the hippies: or for their pivotal differences to matter.