People talk about 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High' being the representative slice-of-life teen comedy for the early 1980s in the same way 'American Graffiti' depicts the early 1960s and 'Dazed And Confused' the mid-70s. 'Fast Times' deserves special kudos because it came out when the times in question were still taking place - in fact 'Fast Times' would go on to define its era as the must-see comedy for those who made up the movie's subject matter back in late '82 and early '83.
Here's my problem: It's not much of a comedy. Sure, it has funny moments, but it's very downbeat too much of the time. The two main female characters, played by Jennifer Jason-Leigh (Stacy) and Phoebe Cates (Linda), give solid performances but have hardly a true laugh between them, other than Cates' simple action of opening a door. The male characters have their funny scenes, too, but in-between acts of such casual cruelty and harshness that it really doesn't compensate. Here's something to ponder: The funniest performance in this film is by a guy whose only other comedies were 'Shanghai Surprise' and 'We're No Angels.' Sean Penn is very good as Spicoli, but he's got the one character you are encouraged to laugh at, him and Ray Walston's Mr. Hand, of course, both hilarious. 'Jefferson was saying if we don't get some cool rules pronto, we'll be bogus, too!' When they aren't in the film, my attention drifts. As a comedy, it's alternately funny and flailing. As a drama, this is an afterschool special with swear words and nudity.
'Fast Times' is fun to watch simply for the time-capsule elements. Writer Cameron Crowe really had his ear to the ground as he took measure of a LA-area high school in the guise of a student, and director Amy Heckerling has a clearly sympathetic understanding for the tribal rites of the young. The score is warmed-over '70s mellow guitar rock already past its prime, but offers great songs, none better than Jackson Browne's last great hit, 'Somebody's Baby,' which had its first release on the 'Fast Times' soundtrack (and might be subtitled 'Stacey's Sex Theme' as it shows up whenever she gets it on.) Heckerling doesn't gloss up the sex (the first such scene takes place in a grimy concrete bunker with the memorable graffito 'Surf Nazis' over Stacy's head), and that's to her credit. The film's grittiness works in this way for me because the early '80s seem on retrospect a less innocent time than the earlier eras depicted in the other teen films, the first time in which sex between young people could be truly casual while traditional religious and social strictures seemed to fall mute. In that way, she hits the right notes.
But Heckerling accepts this casualness to the point of promulgating it. We see Stacy unabashedly learning about oral sex with a carrot and getting an abortion in which her main source of pain seems to be about getting a ride and money from the guy who knocked her up. With AIDS just around the corner, and a host of moral issues surrounding unbridled sex among minors, I find myself wanting to scream at the screen like Mr. Hand: 'What are you people, on dope?'
That's a personal issue a lot of 'Fast Times' viewers won't join me in feeling. What I think is a broader problem is the shallowness of the story lines and the characters, how lacking in deeper resonance they are. As Heckerling points out in her joint DVD commentary with Crowe, Mark (Rat) Ratner is someone who finds sex as difficult as others find trigonometry. He's a nerd, and I can relate, so how is it the attractive, sexually active Stacey chooses him and seeks a relationship with him? Hot girls don't chase nerds, simple as that. The film might have tried to flesh out this relationship and offer some explanation why else she likes him other than his awkward smile, his obvious desire, and his willingness to offer her some encouragement after Mr. Vargas' morgue demonstration, but you are left with a couple of half-finished, awkward conversations and the sense that they had to wind up together because they are the lead actors.
'Fast Times' is a fun film to watch, but thin as the soles on a pair of checkered loafers. It's the definitive teen film of its time, but 'Valley Girl' and 'Sixteen Candles' have better narratives, 'The Breakfast Club' more interesting characters, and 'Last American Virgin' a stronger ending. If it was just Sean Penn and Ray Walston sitting at Perry's Pizza for ninety minutes, in a sort of 'My Dinner With Spicoli,' I think 'Fast Times' would have been more fun.
Here's my problem: It's not much of a comedy. Sure, it has funny moments, but it's very downbeat too much of the time. The two main female characters, played by Jennifer Jason-Leigh (Stacy) and Phoebe Cates (Linda), give solid performances but have hardly a true laugh between them, other than Cates' simple action of opening a door. The male characters have their funny scenes, too, but in-between acts of such casual cruelty and harshness that it really doesn't compensate. Here's something to ponder: The funniest performance in this film is by a guy whose only other comedies were 'Shanghai Surprise' and 'We're No Angels.' Sean Penn is very good as Spicoli, but he's got the one character you are encouraged to laugh at, him and Ray Walston's Mr. Hand, of course, both hilarious. 'Jefferson was saying if we don't get some cool rules pronto, we'll be bogus, too!' When they aren't in the film, my attention drifts. As a comedy, it's alternately funny and flailing. As a drama, this is an afterschool special with swear words and nudity.
'Fast Times' is fun to watch simply for the time-capsule elements. Writer Cameron Crowe really had his ear to the ground as he took measure of a LA-area high school in the guise of a student, and director Amy Heckerling has a clearly sympathetic understanding for the tribal rites of the young. The score is warmed-over '70s mellow guitar rock already past its prime, but offers great songs, none better than Jackson Browne's last great hit, 'Somebody's Baby,' which had its first release on the 'Fast Times' soundtrack (and might be subtitled 'Stacey's Sex Theme' as it shows up whenever she gets it on.) Heckerling doesn't gloss up the sex (the first such scene takes place in a grimy concrete bunker with the memorable graffito 'Surf Nazis' over Stacy's head), and that's to her credit. The film's grittiness works in this way for me because the early '80s seem on retrospect a less innocent time than the earlier eras depicted in the other teen films, the first time in which sex between young people could be truly casual while traditional religious and social strictures seemed to fall mute. In that way, she hits the right notes.
But Heckerling accepts this casualness to the point of promulgating it. We see Stacy unabashedly learning about oral sex with a carrot and getting an abortion in which her main source of pain seems to be about getting a ride and money from the guy who knocked her up. With AIDS just around the corner, and a host of moral issues surrounding unbridled sex among minors, I find myself wanting to scream at the screen like Mr. Hand: 'What are you people, on dope?'
That's a personal issue a lot of 'Fast Times' viewers won't join me in feeling. What I think is a broader problem is the shallowness of the story lines and the characters, how lacking in deeper resonance they are. As Heckerling points out in her joint DVD commentary with Crowe, Mark (Rat) Ratner is someone who finds sex as difficult as others find trigonometry. He's a nerd, and I can relate, so how is it the attractive, sexually active Stacey chooses him and seeks a relationship with him? Hot girls don't chase nerds, simple as that. The film might have tried to flesh out this relationship and offer some explanation why else she likes him other than his awkward smile, his obvious desire, and his willingness to offer her some encouragement after Mr. Vargas' morgue demonstration, but you are left with a couple of half-finished, awkward conversations and the sense that they had to wind up together because they are the lead actors.
'Fast Times' is a fun film to watch, but thin as the soles on a pair of checkered loafers. It's the definitive teen film of its time, but 'Valley Girl' and 'Sixteen Candles' have better narratives, 'The Breakfast Club' more interesting characters, and 'Last American Virgin' a stronger ending. If it was just Sean Penn and Ray Walston sitting at Perry's Pizza for ninety minutes, in a sort of 'My Dinner With Spicoli,' I think 'Fast Times' would have been more fun.