Summer School
Just because the theme’s about underachieving, why did Carl Reiner have to make a movie to match? What could have been an ABC of lightweight summer entertainment rates only a C+ as gym coach Mark Harmon’s blackmailed by mean-minded vice principal Robin Thomas into giving up his vacation to teach remedial English. His not-making-the-grade students include Chainsaw Massacre fanatic Dean Cameron, pregnant Shawne Smith, can’t-stay-awake Ken Olandt, can’t-drive Kelly Minter and surfer Courtney Thorne-Smith, who has a crush on Thomas. The plot’s predictable: Harmon learns to outsmart his students, and they learn the rewards of higher-than-D-education, but first-time star Harmon is just, well, average, and so are the antics, with one exception. At the preview screening, the audience loved the students’ Chainsaw Massacre re-creation — pity the rest’s not as imaginative. Not that the movie should be flunked, but, like the students, it obviously could do better. (Regency 2, SF; Berkeley, Berk.; Showcase, Oakl.)*