Wednesday

Fast Times at Ridgemont High was on tonight. I'd never seen it before. Now I have. I did enjoy it, but with several reservations. I think the director/producer wanted a happy high-school comedy but the problem was the book they based it on - incidentally by Cameron Crowe (which I didn't know before). Yes, it's fun, but the main story of the book is that the lead character's best friend sleeps with the girl he wants, gets her pregnant and then avoids paying for her abortion. This is not happy stuff. The whole problem is resolved by someone spray painting his car and his locker with the words 'prick'. Somehow, for the magnitude of what happened, graffiti doesn't quite compensate for me, and comedies are all about compensation. We go to them in order to feel fully satisfied. I left the film feeling quite empty and disappointed. The year went too quickly, nothing really happened. Some of you might say this is the point, but I don't think it's what the director/producer wanted. They found themselves with the wrong material but just ran with it. What you get is some great moments, in-between some very dubious ones. Have you noticed, by the way, the freedom in showing young girls' breasts in the 80s that now is completely lacking in our teen movies? Just a small point. Anyway, yes I enjoyed it and I'd see it again, which is just about all that needs to be said sometimes. Sorry.