Director Amy Heckerling almost encourages the film's shapelessness, letting the individual moments speak for themselves, rather than molding a cohesive whole.
Comment
05/26/06
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
79
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:34
Rotten:9
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: While Fast Times at Ridgemont High features Sean Penn's legendary performance, the film endures because it accurately captured the small details of school, work, and teenage life.
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: This highly appealing teen comedy created a host of new stars -- including Sean Penn -- and features a lively rock music soundtrack. The freewheeling story chronicles the sexual insecurities and... [More]
Starring: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates
Director: Amy Heckerling
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Reviews for Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The panoply of teen types and turmoils is dead-on accurate.
01/01/00
The filmmakers' attempts to capture the "real" high school experience run hot and cold, while the comedy quotient just doesn't cut it.
11/09/04
Fast Times at Ridgemont High explores adolescent energy with elan.
02/04/04
Works well because we have the sense that, like Crowe, we are listening in.
01/01/00
Director Amy Heckerling has failed to provide the raunch or poignancy that would interest young moviegoers, all of whom have seen American Graffiti and its 467 imitators. Ridgemont High? A nice place to visit, but who would want to transfer there?
03/13/09
Top CriticWhat plot there is garnishes itself with an array of such like-minded sensibilities that you'd be hard pushed to find much in the way of fault.
01/01/00
How could they do this to Jennifer Jason Leigh? How could they put such a fresh and cheerful person into such a scuz-pit of a movie?
10/23/04
Top CriticPenn has a huge presence in the film, and every whacked line he utters resonates with the sheer hilarity that he fully believes in what he says
02/27/01
It's among the coolest high school films I've ever seen, and it's one of the most representative movies of the 80s.
09/10/02
There's not a lot of substance here, but this is the high school I'd most like to go to in movie history.
12/08/02
[Penn] sets the tone of fun for the whole movie.
12/06/05
A jumbled but appealing teen-age comedy with something of a fresh perspective on the subject.
08/30/04
Top CriticFast Times at Ridgemont High has really stood the test of time. Ridgemont will still have you reeling with laughter, and tapping your feet along to those eclectic pop classics.
06/20/02
The movie is sublimely funny. And interesting.
01/01/00
...largely prosaic, crude, stereotyped, and pointless.
04/08/01
Fast Times has not endured the passage of time.
11/07/02
Was never all it was cracked up to be.
07/18/07
Top CriticThe nice thing is that Crowe and director Amy Heckerling have provided something pleasant to observe in all of these characters though they really are sadly lacking in anything gripping.
07/18/07
Top Critic
Latest News for Fast Times at Ridgemont High
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EW Lists 11 Movies with a Playboy Connection 
Just in time for The House Bunny's theatrical debut, Entertainment Weekly has compiled a list of 11 notable films with a Playboy connection. Put on your bunny ears! More...
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January 03, 2006:
Vincent Schiavelli Passes at 57
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli, the long-faced veteran of over 150 film and television appearances, died of lung cancer December 26 at home in Sicily. He was 57 years old. More...
August 15, 2005:
Paul Rudd Wooed by Michelle Pfeiffer's "Woman"
Paul Rudd has signed on to play opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in the upcoming Amy Heckerling comedy "I Could Never Be Your Woman," says The Hollywood Reporter. More...
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