My '80s Nostalgia's Selective, It Seems

I’d never seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Don’t know why. It seems to be one of those movies from the ‘80s you’re supposed to have seen, but there are a lot of those I haven’t seen. Maybe because I was born in the ‘80s, so I was too young. I do feel like, as far as movies and television goes, I’m at least as much a child of the ‘90s (comics are another matter). I haven’t watched E.T., I hadn’t seen Goonies until Alex made me watch it a few years ago, there’s probably others. The opportunity was there, so I took it.

It’s kind of an odd movie to watch for the first time, now. I knew Sean Penn played the stoner surf bro, Spicoli, but it’s still strange to see that role, and think of where he is now. I just don't see him as a comedy guy. I did very much enjoy the back and forth between he and Mr. Hand (not a euphemism for masturbation). Spicoli isn’t trying to aggravate his teacher out of spite, his actions seem perfectly reasonable to him. Which is why his shocked reactions to how Mr. Hand deals with him work so well. He really couldn’t believe the dude tore up the card with his class schedule like that, and sent him to the office. It makes no sense to him whatsoever, so calling his a teacher a dick isn’t him trying to make cool points, he’s legitimately hurt and offended.

It’s fortunate things went downhill so quickly for Brad Hamilton, because I was having a hard time adjusting to a movie where Judge Reinhold was actually respected, well-liked, and dare I say, believed to be cool by his peers. It was damn unnatural.

The whole thing with Stacy and her much older, audio technician boyfriend was extremely uncomfortable. I could not stop thinking “Statutory!” at the screen during that. And her friend Linda is dating some older pilot guy, or so she says. We never actually see him. She could be making him up. Was that a thing that was just OK back then, because I could have done without that subplot. Like, Wooderson in Dazed and Confused talks about liking high school girls, but he’s clearly a skeevy bastard we aren’t supposed to identify with (or I didn’t). And yeah, Seth Rogen’s character in Pineapple Express was dating a high school girl, but, again, I don’t think we’re supposed to see that as a positive so much as a sign of his arrested maturity, or skewed moral compass or something. Between that, and all of Linda’s questionable advice, peer pressure, and quite likely creating unrealistic expectations, it made me feel sad for Stacy. And I can’t parse that note about her and Rat at the end. It notes they’re in a passionate relationship, but still haven’t done it. Something about the fact they used “but” makes it feel judgmental. Like, “What’s wrong with these kids? Why aren’t they humping like bunnies?” If they had used “and”, or kept it as two entirely separate statements (i.e., “Stacy and Rat are in a passionate relationship. *Pause* They still haven’t done it/gone all the way.”) It would have felt more as though the film was just reporting it as a fact, rather than editorializing. Maybe it’s just me.

Anyway, I enjoyed the Spicoli stuff, and Brad’s yearlong downward spiral was pretty good, but I could have done without all the stuff about teen romance, or whatever the hell it was supposed to be. Also, I wish they’d done a little more with Forrest Whitaker’s character.