Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Directed by Amy Heckerling. Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Sean Penn, Robert Romanus, Brian Backer, Phoebe Cates, Ray Walston, Amanda Wyss, D. W. Brown, Vincent Schiavelli, Scott Thomson, Forest Whitaker. [R]

Cameron Crowe famously went undercover at a real SoCal high school to research the modern American teen and penned a book based on his experiences, which he then adapted into a screenplay. That attention to detail resulted in a rare form of verisimilitude that was nearly unheard of in Hollywood (these were still the days just before John Hughes and his ilk), creating a living, breathing time capsule of the era’s youth culture, a headlong somersault through malls, sex, fast food, pep rallies, sex, dating, stoners, rock music, and even more sex. The perceptiveness pays off—even the more obviously scripted episodes feel like they were embellished from real interactions—and although the storytelling is a jumble, and the tonal variances trivialize too much of the more serious material (the superficial handling of the abortion subplot borders on the distasteful), these fast times are mostly good times, buoyed tremendously by the appealing performances. Cast is packed with up-and-comers, with Penn stealing the show as a perpetually stoned surfer—his skirmishes with draconian history teacher Walston generate the most laughs—and Leigh holding her own with a muddled characterization that skips right over the process of going from virginal and curious to promiscuous and jaded. As usual for a movie that Crowe is involved in, the music cues are almost always on point, from the opening montage set to “We Got the Beat” to the famous VHS-tape-scarred doffing of Cates’ bikini top set to “Moving in Stereo”; however, perhaps the most glaring false move the film makes is also related to the soundtrack, as anyone with their head screwed on right could tell you that “Kashmir” can’t be found on side one of Led Zeppelin IV. Director Heckerling’s film debut, plus early roles for a bevy of bit players: Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, Anthony Edwards, etc. Later a short-lived TV series.

71/100