On the surface, Fast Times at Ridgemont High looks like a raunchy teen film. It’s best known for that one scene of Phoebe Cates emerging from the pool in her red suit, and for Sean Penn’s perennially baked character. But to say that it’s a sex comedy, and not much else, is a disservice to the film and its potential viewers. The film is funny, sure, but it also tackles weighty and taboo themes like female sexuality and choice. We see fifteen-year-old Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) take charge of her sex life, as awkward, uncomfortable, and bumpy as that journey may be. Teenage apathy, confusion, and experimentation is also in display—never preachy, but always light-hearted and natural. It doesn’t resort to crude jokes or simple stereotypes (like, say, Sixteen Candles) and instead shows us the teen experience candidly. Before Dazed and Confused, Superbad, and even The Breakfast Club, Fast Times was already shaping what the teen film would be. It’s nothing less than a classic.
Based on the real-life adventures chronicled by Cameron Crowe, Fast Times follows a group of high school students growing up in Southern California. Stacy Hamilton and Mark Ratner are looking for love, and are helped along by their older classmates, Linda Barrett and Mike Damone. Jeff Spicoli, a perpetually stoned surfer faces-off with the resolute teacher, Mr. Hand. Hilarity and heartbreak ensue.
In 1980s California, teenagers navigate school, love, work, and sex while coming of age.
It’s unfortunate that the movie is marked in history by Cates’ red swimsuit and Penn’s SoCal drawl (the suggestive poster doesn’t help), when in reality the film brings so much more to the table than just that. But if we’re talking pure visuals, it’s hard not to gape at the stars just getting their start here, including Nicolas Cage and Forest Whitaker.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, or a film by its hypersexualized poster: this movie is a heartwarming coming-of-age underneath all that raunch.
WGA
1 nomination
