User reviews

I've seen the movie about nine or ten times, so naturally many of the jokes--which I found hysterical at first--aren't that funny anymore. But I don't think they could've done a much better job at spoofing high school flicks like "Dangerous Minds," "Lean on Me," "The Blackboard Jungle" and "To Sir, With Love." There are lots of witty moments that hit the bullseye.

The jokes are not over-the-top, nor are they filthy and vomit-inducing like many recent spoofs. It's from the writers of "The Naked Gun" and the talent really shows.

Jon Lovitz is funny, like usual. Tia Carrerre has never looked hotter, and serves as great eye candy. Louise Fletcher is appropriately creepy as the principal, who is sort of like a female version of Joe Clark--she also roams the hallways with a baseball bat.

The young stars like Guillermo Diaz, Mekhi Pfieffer, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Brian Hooks are very good and their timing is just right.

I would probably praise this movie a lot more if I submitted this comment after my first viewing, but trust me--it's very funny! But, like many broad comedies of this kind, it's not as enjoyable on repeat viewings. After having seen the latest spoof, "Not Another Teen Movie," I'm able to appreciate this film a lot more. This is a spoof with wit and structure, and even has a few subtle in-jokes: the school is titled Marion Barry High. You get it?

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Although it was co-written by David Zucker, this comedy is more conventional than, say, the "Naked Gun" series; it doesn't have the same rapid-fire, relentless pacing. However, it does have a number of successful gags (when the teacher enters the ghetto area, his car radio will play ONLY rap music), and, of course, the gorgeous Tia Carrere....wow! (**)

HSH. HSH is one of those it looks crappy, with a story that is mind boggling, yet when it ends you realize this stupid movie was really good.

Its about a short principal of a high crime high school. He is passive, wimpy and eventually falls in love with a teacher and yeah!

This movie has tons of mind boggling comedy moments that make you go WOW?!

The acting is hit and miss with many actors. Nevertheless, if you need a stupid fun movie to watch HIgh School High is your go to guy. Just don't take it seriously.

Verdict: Class Party.

Spoofing 'Dangerous Minds,' 'Lean on Me,' and others, Jon Lovitz stars in 'High School High' as an ambitious, optimistic teacher from a prep school who wants to prove to his father that he is perfectly capable of inspiring his students at an inner-city high school. While there, he inadvertently becomes involved in a turf war between two rival students and their idiotic posses.

Time capsule movie spoofs the mid 90s scene of hip hop has one gag after another, but is probably more destined for laughs for younger teenagers or first-time viewers. I caught this movie on cable after not having seen it in a few years and didn't think it was as funny as I first remember it. Best recommended for Jon Lovitz fans, as he always does well as the clueless doofus. With Tia Carerre, Louise Fletcher, Mekhi Phifer, and Guillermo Diaz.

Yes, I'll grant you this movie is less than perfect. The storyline doesn't always make sense. Not every joke works, but the movie's batting average is high enough to justify seeing it. And it's funnier to me than every Adam Sandler/David Spade/Chris Farley movie I've ever seen, in part because the three of them are nothing but annoying. Jon Lovitz, on the other, is a likable everyman you can root for. He carries the movie. Lovitz is an underrated comedian who always makes the material seem better than it is. His delivery and timing help make this movie enjoyable. And of course, Tia Carrere is absolutely gorgeous.

I'm not saying "High School High" is a classic. But I was amused by it. Like any Zucker production, the gags come fast and furious. They don't all work, but enough hit the target to make it worth seeing.

I would have to say the highlight of this movie was the drunk guy at the end of my row puking about halfway through. Jon Lovitz was at his annoying worst and the rest of the cast was completely unfunny. This is an hour and a half of my life that I will never have back and for that I am truly sorry.

John Lovitz is very likable and very funny in this spoof of an inner city high school. The story is familiar, new, naive, fish out of water teacher, is eventually accepted because of his commitment to his students. "High School High", like most spoofs is a hit or miss affair. Some of the gags fall flat, but the film totally redeems itself with several hilarious moments. Stereotypes are on parade, but that of course is the purpose of a spoof, and things move rather quickly, so even the misses are easily forgiven. John Lovitz carries the film, but the supporting cast is quite good also. Bottom line, this is better than 95% of the similar parodies "National Lampoon" spits out, and is recommended of it's type. - MERK

This film is utterly terrible on all fronts, and it is remarkable that it was made at all being as unfunny as it is.

This is clearly an attempt to be a slapstick film in the mode of Airplane. There's a difference - Airplane was original and funny, and had talented actors in it.

At least Tia Carrere was nice to look at as usual.

High School High is a very decent spoof comedy written by comedic geniuses Pat Proft and David Zucker. You recognize all these ordinary high school dramas like Dangerous Minds, The Substitute, High School Confidential and many others. And off-course there's many very absurd scenes that is very common to screenplays by Zucker.

Also you can enjoy performance of Jon Lovitz. His character Richard Clark isn't stupid and clumsy like we know all Leslie Nielsens characters but just naive. At the same time Lovitz doesn't leave a strike that he is taking it all too seriously. Louise Fletcher's and Tia Carrere's performances were in full seriousness at the same time. They both played like in usual roles in usual high school films.

High School High is a bit underrated but might not be as brilliant than the other films by Zucker/Craft but still it has it's moments.

Jon Lovitz is possibly the most under-rated Saturday Night Live alumnus. While Mike Myers, Adam Sandler and others have gone on to bigger things, Lovitz has primarily been background fodder for the other ex-cast members. And he's good at this, but he's also good on his own - as this movie proves. High School High was the best school movie parody of its time (before "Not Another Teen Movie"), taking "Dangerous Minds" and making a plot we should actually care about and enjoy. And we also have Tia Carrera (not to be confused with Asia Carrera).

Lovitz plays a history teacher who wants to turn a school full of unwanted students into a fleet of tomorrow's best and brightest. With help from his street smarts and an intense chicken race scene, he might just accomplish his goals. But, oh no, what happens when a rival gang steals the tests or the class valedictorian turns to dealing drugs? You're just going to have to watch and see. Recommended (unless you don't like Lovitz, but then you have no sense of humor anyway).

Jon Lovitz stars in a movie so bad, it had to go under my label of `brilliant stupidity,' which is a good thing by my standards. Not only was the humor great, the jokes in the film proved to be funny without the overabundance of potty jokes and bodily excrement. There are so many great moments to high light in this film, and it hits its marks pretty most of the time. Tia Carrere was also good in this film, being out of place yet ravishing in her role. One of those films you need to watch with friends or when drunk, or both.

I know you guys are going to consider me weird, but I liked this film better, in spanish, because, for me it was more funnier. I thought the slapstick comedy was good and jon lovitz was an excellent actor pretending to be a gangsta, but this acting did not top his days on snl as my favorites, the actor, the anonymous liar, and the devil. Tia carrere is not so hot as the others users described her, and this was mekhi phifer first film, before becoming future in 8 mile. It was an ok film, one of those that you watch when you are bored. This is another film of the worst period of films in hollywood 1995-1996. My favorite part was when everyone was surprised to see a book, and they started smelling it.

It wasn't until fairly recently when I first knew this 1996 comedy existed. It's a parody of movies about teachers who get jobs at corrupt schools and try to make a difference. I was only ten years old when this came out, and it's a PG-13 rated film. When I first came across a copy of it in the video store over a decade later, I saw that the lead role was played by Jon Lovitz, a comedian I was familiar with. The film was also written by David Zucker, Robert LoCash, and Pat Proft, and I had previously seen comedies which they were involved in. Before seeing "High School High", I knew it wasn't a very popular spoof movie, but there was still a chance I could find laughs in it, especially with Lovitz in the starring role, and I did. However, unsurprisingly, most of these laughs were small ones, and in the end, I was not left very pleased by the movie.

Richard Clark is a teacher who leaves Wellington Academy with another teaching job waiting for him at Marion Barry High School. Unfortunately, he quickly learns that working here will not be a pleasant experience, as this is a very dangerous school full of crime, where the students in general are deeply troubled and constantly get poor marks, and it doesn't look like they have a bright future ahead of them. After arriving at the school on his first day, Clark soon meets the hotheaded principal, Evelyn Doyle, and his first conversation with her turns out to be an embarrassing one, but he then meets an administrative assistant named Victoria Chapell, and falls in love with her. Despite how much trouble Clark's class puts him through, he remains determined to somehow guide them in a different direction, and has his new girlfriend to help him, but obviously, he's going to face more than one problem along the way!

Around the time I started watching this high school movie spoof, I certainly wasn't always keeping a straight face, but it didn't exactly look that promising. The first part that made me laugh fully might have been the protagonist, on his first day teaching at Marion Barry High, getting rivals to shake hands in the hall, and unfortunately, not too many gags made me laugh that hard after that. There are some fairly unimpressive sight gags and I didn't really like most of the characters. There certainly were a number of scenes that made me at least smile or laugh just a little, which may not have been the case without a talented comedian like Jon Lovitz in the starring role, and eventually found at least one touching moment. For this, I feel I COULD be giving "High School High" a 6/10 instead of a 5, but definitely no higher than that. I won't advise people to avoid this movie at all costs, but can understand why it doesn't even come close to having the same kind of reputation as "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun".

Jon Lovitz uses his clueless schmuck persona to play a new teacher at the prototypical inner city school, where violence and disorder are the order of the day. The film is a parody of all the idealistic-teacher-saves-the-bad-kids movies. Part of the fun is to identify the film references as they occur, so I will not list them here. Actually, this film also contains references to many other (mostly teen) movies.

Don't expect Bergman or Scorcese. The humor is low brow and the sight gags are predictable. But the film is playful. And its predictability is part of the fun, as it recreates iconic moments in teen films and gives them a silly twist.

If you like "Airplane", this film may be for you. If you prefer "The Seventh Seal", you don't know who Jon Lovitz is, do you?

This movie was alright, i wouldn't watch it again but it was okay, some people thought it was great and some people thought it was the stupidest movie in history but i disagree with both sides of the story. It was funny in some parts and Jon Lovitz is a great comedy actor but needed some work in this movie

I'm a Jon Lovitz fan, hence the 6 star rating. With anyone else in the lead role, the rating would be a 5. This fim is, of course, a pure fantasy, and no such school or students ever existed. Spoof movies can be fun and well-made (like the wonderful Leslie Neilson Police Squad films and The Princess Bride). However, this film is not one of them; it is mediocre, at best, and merely just a string of Saturday Night Live-type skits. Not that this is a bad thing, but it is really not a cogent movie. Louise Fletcher looks like she was having a good time getting away from her serious films persona for at least one movie and the rest of the cast does its best to flesh out the plot, which is thinner than my aging hair. Pretty much just for Jon Lovitz fans, as all others will be a bit disappointed.

High School High casts Jon Lovitz who works at a posh prep school where the headmaster is is father Jon Neville. Seeking a challenge he changes cultures from that world to inner city Marion Barry high school. It ain't what he's used to.

Still somehow he breaks through although God only knows how and principal's assistant Tia Carrere although what she sees in him we can only guess. But the story is far from ver.

The fabled Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Louise Fletcher is the principal of Marion Barry. Changing professions fro medicine to education hasn't changed her personality. You have no idea what she does for a sideline.

The comedy is low brow and lame. But at one point it becomes offensive. I don't think rape is really a subject for humor and when bad kid Guillermo Diaz tries to rape Carrere and the attack is fended off it wasn't al that funny. I don't think too many women would find it funny, in fact it's offensive.

This one is one to pass on.

A naive but dedicated educator (Jon Lovitz) decides to teach at the roughest high school in L.A. and once he arrived at this new job, he finds out the conditions at this school is tough, violent and students don't want to know anything about higher education. This educator befriends with an beautiful teacher (Tia Carrere) and an student (Mekhi Phifer), who wants an education. But this student has troubles with his previous gang members, especially with the leader (Guillermo Diaz). Who still wants him to sell drugs on the streets. This educator also has trouble with passionless principal (Oscar-Winner:Louise Fletcher) but he finds a way to teach his most unlikely students and giving them hope for education, which they never had before.

Directed by Canadian actor:Hart Bochner (PCU) made an amusing comedy that spoofs films like "Dangerous Minds", "Stand and Deliver", "The Deer Hunter" and other memorable films. Lovitz is extremely likable and he has some very big laughs in this silly comedy. Although this comic spoof is unusually realistic at other moments also. The film has an good message for any students for those who wants an education and to have a bright future but it is also hard, what it's wants to be. Ambitious to be sure but always watchable. Written by David Zucker (Airplane!, Baseketball, Ruthless People), Robert LoCash (CB4:The Movie, Naked Gun 33 1/3:The Final Insult) and Pat Proof (Hot Shots 1 & 2, Bachelor Party, Police Academy). (*** ½/*****).

This movie isn't bad, and it has some chuckles in it, but in the end this film simply couldn't sustain the joke. Ok, there was room for a school satire, but there were already gaps showing in the comedic fabric and the movie ran for less than 90 minutes. I am quite a fan of Jon Lovitz and he does his part reasonably well. The lovely Tia Carrere also performs well (although that ain't saying much with her intensely stupid role), but their individual talents can't save this flick from inanity. Don't fork out any money to see this film. My vote 6/10 and it was lucky to get it.