The zany rude humor that whipped up gales of laughter in the riotous "Naked Gun" trilogy wanes in the shallow but mildly funny "High School High," a spoof of recent high school sagas such as "Dangerous Minds" and "The Substitute." Scenarists David Zucker of "Airplane," Robert LoCash of "BASEketball," and Pat Proft of "Brain Donors" aren't as successful with this half-baked entry. The comedy in "High School High" seems virtually colorless. Although it boasts more jokes per screen minute than "Airplane" and "Top Secret" or the "Naked Gun" trilogy, this production manages at least to amuse, even though it cannot intoxicate.
Weasel-faced comedian Jon Lovitz of "City Slickers 2") plays Richard Clark, a sympathetic but naïve educator who quits teaching history at a 'rich kids' academy to work in a poverty stricken ghetto school. Clark gets more than he bargained for at the inner city Marion Barry High School. No sooner has he climbed out of his car than the same vehicle mysteriously vanishes. Initially, Clark is blind to the rampant crime, gang, and drug problems afflicting the school. He is horrified to see Principal Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher of "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest") hitting students with a baseball bat.
While Clark fumbles with his own foes, Griff McReynolds (Mekhi Phifer of "Clockers") is coming back to finish school after a year in juvenile detention. McReynolds wants to go straight, but a gang of drug runners refuses to let him off the hook. Before these bad boys can convert McReynolds to their cause, they have to discredit Clark. Word-plays and sight gags constitute the best of what little comedy punctuates "High School High."
The funniest scenes include a send-up of the Russian roulette duel in "The Deer Hunter," an attempted rape in the school library, and Clark's rain-splattered expulsion. Actor-turned-director Hart Bochner concerns himself more with the plot turns than the humor. Bochner doesn't develop his mise-en-scene as imaginatively as Zucker did in his "Naked Gun" movies. Zucker exploited every inch of a scene, with gags on the periphery.
When Bochner tries to imitate Zucker, he fails miserably at the task. Bochner shoots the background out of focus where the action occurs so audiences have a hard time spotting students failing down stairs because they wear their pants too low. Blaming Bochner entirely for these shortcomings in this marginal comedy would be to overlook the writers' slack contribution. Indeed, "High School High" features a couple of truly inventive gags, but the movie suffers because there is not enough funny stuff.
The writers stretch jokes and ides far beyond their limits, and "High School High" looks like a labored sit-com. The cast performs with deadpan brilliance, but their characters are rarely inspired or loony. Zucker, LoCash, and Proft should be ashamed that it took three of them to pen what little drivel "High School High" has.
Weasel-faced comedian Jon Lovitz of "City Slickers 2") plays Richard Clark, a sympathetic but naïve educator who quits teaching history at a 'rich kids' academy to work in a poverty stricken ghetto school. Clark gets more than he bargained for at the inner city Marion Barry High School. No sooner has he climbed out of his car than the same vehicle mysteriously vanishes. Initially, Clark is blind to the rampant crime, gang, and drug problems afflicting the school. He is horrified to see Principal Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher of "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest") hitting students with a baseball bat.
While Clark fumbles with his own foes, Griff McReynolds (Mekhi Phifer of "Clockers") is coming back to finish school after a year in juvenile detention. McReynolds wants to go straight, but a gang of drug runners refuses to let him off the hook. Before these bad boys can convert McReynolds to their cause, they have to discredit Clark. Word-plays and sight gags constitute the best of what little comedy punctuates "High School High."
The funniest scenes include a send-up of the Russian roulette duel in "The Deer Hunter," an attempted rape in the school library, and Clark's rain-splattered expulsion. Actor-turned-director Hart Bochner concerns himself more with the plot turns than the humor. Bochner doesn't develop his mise-en-scene as imaginatively as Zucker did in his "Naked Gun" movies. Zucker exploited every inch of a scene, with gags on the periphery.
When Bochner tries to imitate Zucker, he fails miserably at the task. Bochner shoots the background out of focus where the action occurs so audiences have a hard time spotting students failing down stairs because they wear their pants too low. Blaming Bochner entirely for these shortcomings in this marginal comedy would be to overlook the writers' slack contribution. Indeed, "High School High" features a couple of truly inventive gags, but the movie suffers because there is not enough funny stuff.
The writers stretch jokes and ides far beyond their limits, and "High School High" looks like a labored sit-com. The cast performs with deadpan brilliance, but their characters are rarely inspired or loony. Zucker, LoCash, and Proft should be ashamed that it took three of them to pen what little drivel "High School High" has.