Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Pavlov'd me so well that anytime I hear Jackson Brown's "Somebody's Baby" I immediately start wincing because something awful is about to happen to Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Maybe not the best movie ever made, but you know what, its a cult favorite among everybody. Any teenager who has seen this movie can instantly connect to one of the characters. A really fun and enjoyable film.

Convinced that 'The Breakfast Club' was the best teen movie of the 80s (the kids in 'Stand by Me' were younger, right?), this came as a great surprise to me. I wonder if Crowe made cliffnotes in his favorite script of mine for musical cues. Together with Heckerling he completely nails high school in a way I have seldomly seen onscreen (Linklater's 'Dazed and Confused' deserves mention) and their ensemble cast act out situation upon situation which are both familiar and fresh. Absolutely amazing.

Mike Damone is one of the great underrated characters in movie history. Yeah, sure, Spiccoli gets all the glory and Cates' pool scene is the real iconic shot, but Damone is just fantastic. "Now three, act like wherever you are, that's the place to be. 'Isn't this great?' Judge Reinhold's tragic turn as Brad is almost equally hilarious.

Rewatch. Definitive '80s high school comedy includes the negative consequences of sex (sort of). Sean Penn is prominently featured but I found his character annoying. Judge Reinhold was much more relatable and a better protagonist. Jennifer Jason Leigh looked really young. I liked that we skimmed many aspects of Hollywood high school life. My problem is that I'm blending parodies with the source. Fav scenes: Phoebe Cates' signature scene, but Backer confronting Romanus is great too.