High School High
Tags: absurd, comedy

Plot synopsis:
Richard Clark (Jon Lovitz) is an unsatisfied prep school teacher at the fictional Wellington Academy, who accepts a job at inner city Marion Barry High School, much to the chagrin of his boss and father, Wellington headmaster Thaddeus Clark (John Neville). Richard arrives to find the school in a state of disarray and disorder, while meeting several students and faculty members, including jaded, sour principal Evelyn Doyle (Louise Fletcher), her cheerful assistant Victoria Chappell (Tia Carrere) and student Griff McReynolds (Mekhi Phifer).
Despite initial opposition to his teaching style and harassment from the school gang leader Paco (Guillermo Díaz), Richard begins connecting with his students and teaches them effectively, while developing a romantic relationship with Victoria. Barry High eventually is transformed into a fine educational establishment. Frustrated, Paco and his gang tamper with the school's final exam scores, causing everyone to fail. Griff, who grew to see Richard as a mentor, loses faith in him, as does the rest of the school and Richard is fired. Griff subsequently joins Paco's gang to make extra money.
Victoria learns through word of mouth that Paco was behind the failing test scores and rushes to inform Richard, who decides to confront Paco and rescue Griff with the help of several of his students, including Anferny Jefferson (Brian Hooks), Natalie Thompson (Malinda Williams) and Julie Rubels (Natasha Gregson Wagner). By deceiving Mr. DeMarco (Marco Rodríguez), a local gangster, Richard and Victoria reach Paco and the local crime boss, "Mr. A", whom they find has been Principal Doyle the entire time. Griff is told the truth about the test scores and after a brief fight, Paco, Doyle and DeMarco are arrested.
Richard (now principal of Barry High) presides over the graduation ceremony and proudly names Griff as the class valedictorian. The six main students of the film graduate (but only those six). Richard makes good on his promise to send Griff to college and is in a relationship with Victoria.

Review: I've seen the movie about nine or ten times, so naturally many of the jokes--which I found hysterical at first--aren't that funny anymore.
But I don't think they could've done a much better job at spoofing high school flicks like "Dangerous Minds," "Lean on Me," "The Blackboard Jungle" and "To Sir, With Love."  There are lots of witty moments that hit the bullseye.The jokes are not over-the-top, nor are they filthy and vomit-inducing like many recent spoofs.
Jon Lovitz is funny, like usual.
The young stars like Guillermo Diaz, Mekhi Pfieffer, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Brian Hooks are very good and their timing is just right.I would probably praise this movie a lot more if I submitted this comment after my first viewing, but trust me--it's very funny!
After having seen the latest spoof, "Not Another Teen Movie," I'm able to appreciate this film a lot more.
However, it does have a number of successful gags (when the teacher enters the ghetto area, his car radio will play ONLY rap music), and, of course, the gorgeous Tia Carrere....wow!
High School High was the best school movie parody of its time (before "Not Another Teen Movie"), taking "Dangerous Minds" and making a plot we should actually care about and enjoy.
And we also have Tia Carrera (not to be confused with Asia Carrera).Lovitz plays a history teacher who wants to turn a school full of unwanted students into a fleet of tomorrow's best and brightest.
A naive but dedicated educator (Jon Lovitz) decides to teach at the roughest high school in L.A. and once he arrived at this new job, he finds out the conditions at this school is tough, violent and students don't want to know anything about higher education.
This educator befriends with an beautiful teacher (Tia Carrere) and an student (Mekhi Phifer), who wants an education.
This educator also has trouble with passionless principal (Oscar-Winner:Louise Fletcher) but he finds a way to teach his most unlikely students and giving them hope for education, which they never had before.Directed by Canadian actor:Hart Bochner (PCU) made an amusing comedy that spoofs films like "Dangerous Minds", "Stand and Deliver", "The Deer Hunter" and other memorable films.
Written by David Zucker (Airplane!, Baseketball, Ruthless People), Robert LoCash (CB4:The Movie, Naked Gun 33 1/3:The Final Insult) and Pat Proof (Hot Shots 1 & 2, Bachelor Party, Police Academy).
Spoofing 'Dangerous Minds,' 'Lean on Me,' and others, Jon Lovitz stars in 'High School High' as an ambitious, optimistic teacher from a prep school who wants to prove to his father that he is perfectly capable of inspiring his students at an inner-city high school.
While there, he inadvertently becomes involved in a turf war between two rival students and their idiotic posses.Time capsule movie spoofs the mid 90s scene of hip hop has one gag after another, but is probably more destined for laughs for younger teenagers or first-time viewers.
Underrated but lovable film which takes all the cliche high-school movie scenes (many of them awful), mixes large dollops of political incorrectness, throws in sophomore humor only a guy could love, and tops it off with a fun good-guys-win-in-the-end finale.
Maybe a brief "SNL" skit, but not a movie.I think Lovitz is pretty funny, and without him there would have been no Phil Hartman on "SNL" (literally!
I thought the slapstick comedy was good and jon lovitz was an excellent actor pretending to be a gangsta, but this acting did not top his days on snl as my favorites, the actor, the anonymous liar, and the devil.
High School High is a very decent spoof comedy written by comedic geniuses Pat Proft and David Zucker.
And off-course there's many very absurd scenes that is very common to screenplays by Zucker.Also you can enjoy performance of Jon Lovitz.
They both played like in usual roles in usual high school films.High School High is a bit underrated but might not be as brilliant than the other films by Zucker/Craft but still it has it's moments..
There's a difference - Airplane was original and funny, and had talented actors in it.At least Tia Carrere was nice to look at as usual..
Jon Lovitz stars in a movie so bad, it had to go under my label of `brilliant stupidity,' which is a good thing by my standards.
There are so many great moments to high light in this film, and it hits its marks pretty most of the time.
Nothing here works - Louise Fletcher comes close to embarrassing herself, the sight gags are lame, and aside from one scene between Lovitz and Tia, its all a mess..
It is a very funny under rated comedy that should be seen if your in the mood for good comedy.This is one of Jon Lovitz funniest performances I have seen.
So if your a fan of Jon Lovitz it is worth all the time that this movie is..
Jon Lovitz uses his clueless schmuck persona to play a new teacher at the prototypical inner city school, where violence and disorder are the order of the day.
The film is a parody of all the idealistic-teacher-saves-the-bad-kids movies.
Richard Clark (Jon Lovitz- of SNL fame) is a bumbling, caring and out of touch prep school teacher who feels like he should be doing more.
Along the way Richard has help with class from secretar- err...I mean administrative assistant Victoria Chapel (Tia Carrera- Wayne's World, True Lies) and former thug turned good guy Griff (Mekhi Phiffer- 8 Mile) to help Marion Barry be the best or quite possibly the best...umm maybe..
It was funny in some parts and Jon Lovitz is a great comedy actor but needed some work in this movie.
High School High has laughs in it, but like a few critics say it doesn't know if it's a normal or spoof comedy.
It's funny how they make fun of "Dangerous Minds".I've always loved stupid movies like "Naked Gun", "Loaded Weapon" and off course "High School High".
They were just made to make you laugh.John Lovits had already been in a stupid movie (Loaded Weapon) and he was very funny like in this one.
Though it was unusual to see Tia Carer in a movie like this but I think she did a very good job.If you haven't seen "High School High" don't hesitate to watch it.
John Lovitz is very likable and very funny in this spoof of an inner city high school.
"High School High", like most spoofs is a hit or miss affair.
John Lovitz carries the film, but the supporting cast is quite good also.
It's the same old story about a teacher who moves to an inner-city school to teach unruly kids, who of course, aren't interested in learning or being friendly.
Jon Lovitz is a funny guy, but he is miscast as the teacher.
A spoof with a number of mildly amusing parts and a good comedian in the starring role, but it still isn't really that high.
It's a parody of movies about teachers who get jobs at corrupt schools and try to make a difference.
Before seeing "High School High", I knew it wasn't a very popular spoof movie, but there was still a chance I could find laughs in it, especially with Lovitz in the starring role, and I did.
However, unsurprisingly, most of these laughs were small ones, and in the end, I was not left very pleased by the movie.Richard Clark is a teacher who leaves Wellington Academy with another teaching job waiting for him at Marion Barry High School.
Unfortunately, he quickly learns that working here will not be a pleasant experience, as this is a very dangerous school full of crime, where the students in general are deeply troubled and constantly get poor marks, and it doesn't look like they have a bright future ahead of them.
After arriving at the school on his first day, Clark soon meets the hotheaded principal, Evelyn Doyle, and his first conversation with her turns out to be an embarrassing one, but he then meets an administrative assistant named Victoria Chapell, and falls in love with her.
Despite how much trouble Clark's class puts him through, he remains determined to somehow guide them in a different direction, and has his new girlfriend to help him, but obviously, he's going to face more than one problem along the way!Around the time I started watching this high school movie spoof, I certainly wasn't always keeping a straight face, but it didn't exactly look that promising.
The first part that made me laugh fully might have been the protagonist, on his first day teaching at Marion Barry High, getting rivals to shake hands in the hall, and unfortunately, not too many gags made me laugh that hard after that.
There certainly were a number of scenes that made me at least smile or laugh just a little, which may not have been the case without a talented comedian like Jon Lovitz in the starring role, and eventually found at least one touching moment.
I won't advise people to avoid this movie at all costs, but can understand why it doesn't even come close to having the same kind of reputation as "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun"..
Mr. Clark (Jon Lovitz) and Miss Chapell (Tia Carrere), on the other hand, were very good, attractive, strict, and business-like teachers.
Go all the way in high school!" Now, in conclusion, if you're a fan of Jon Lovitz, and, you haven't seen this excellent, gut-busting, in-your-face high school comedy, I highly recommend it!
High School HighStarring: Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Malinda Williams and Mekhi PhiferRated PG-13 for Crude Sexual Humor, Partial Nudity and Some Drug ReferencesGenre: ComedyStar Rating: **** out of 5High School High I thought was a pretty good comedy especially since it had a good lesson to the story and that is to follow your dreams to reach your goal if you can work at it!
High School High is a story of a teacher named Richard Clark (Jon Lovitz) who left a well-know school to a school where most of the students weren't working so well on their grades.
Mekhi Phifer played a bright kid who wasn't doing well until Jon Lovitz' character helped him out.
This is probably one of my favorite movies of 1996!BOTTOM LINE: A GREAT JON LOVITZ COMEDY!.
But High School High is worth the watch, not only because it is a Zuckerman production, but because it is a very well written spoof.
Jon Lovitz is great as a Michelle Pfiefer (Dangerous minds) teacher type, going into the inner city and changing the lives of his students while turning the community around in the process.
The movie does push the edges of acceptable gag material, whether its dirty dancing at its dirtiest or Tia Carrere (the school's secretary, I mean administrative assistant) character being nearly drowned in a fish tank.
This movie isn't bad, and it has some chuckles in it, but in the end this film simply couldn't sustain the joke.
At any rate...The plot is that Richard Clark(Jon Lovitz) leaves Wellington Academy to go teach at Marion Barry High School against his father's best wishes.
Richard believes that he can make a difference there and on his way he falls for a gorgeous teacher called Victoria Chappell(Tia Carrere).High School High was a spoof on those troubled high school kids movies like Dangerous Minds, Lean On Me and Stand And Deliver.
Tia Carrere was gorgeous as well as funny and Louise Fletcher was funny too as the irascible school principal.
and Naked Gun should find themselves right at home with a 1996 comedy called High School High.The film stars Jon Lovitz as Richard Clark, a teacher at a well- known private school run by his father, who, in order to get out from under his father's thumb, decides to take a job teaching at Marian Barry High School, a tough inner-city high school where most of the students are barely literate.
The simple story finds Clark working to raise the GPA's of his students in order to win a citywide school contest while pursuing romance with an attractive co-worker (Tia Carerre).This film takes pot-shots at films like The Blackboard Jungle and Dangerous Minds, but does it in an outrageous way, but that is to be expected from a film like this.
There are some fun supporting turns from Louise Fletcher as the hard-nosed school principal, Mekhi Pfifer as a troubled student, and Guillermo Diaz as a gang leader, but it is the lightning-swift tempo of the comic gags that keeps this one relatively entertaining for most of its ride..
And it's not.Jon Lovitz plays Richard Clark, the Michelle Pfeiffer character.
But, as Richard Clark has taught there for some time, the school starts smartening up.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A high school spoof movie.
In the case of this movie, High School High, I expected it to be as stupid and as sucky as was Spy Hard, which is in a similar vein.
He decides that he wants to go out on his own and takes a job at Berry High (the joke becomes apparent at the end of the movie) which is the roughest school in the States.I guess the theme of this movie is you can do anything if you put your mind to it, and just because society says that you are something, does not mean that you have to fall into that mould.The humour is simply taking the believability to the point of stupidity.
I am not saying that the humour is bad, just that it is not intelligent.This is an okay movie, and I would simply say that it is only worth watching to shut ones' mind off..
It's a comedy concerning a teacher-with-underachiever-students, having little spoofs of some movies here and there.The formula is familiar since Blackboard Jungle (1955), and To Sir with Love (1967).
And the result didn't contain things like being forced, bad taste, toilet humor, or all what I watch in the comedies of today!
Although I love the guy, I even watched the movie more than once to savor him better, but sometimes his confused moves do bug.The twist of the Principal being the bad guy, who forged her students' results, was wild.
Even at one point the movie delivers a sad scene in a very special way; and I mean the moment of Richard Clark leaving the school, feeling the failure, with a rain over his head only, namely departing "under a cloud" literally.
I love the genius blues melody in the background, the serious – rarely seen – performance of Lovitz, and the smart lines during it.Some criticized it as a predictable, formulaic...Well, so most of the comedies, rather most of Hollywood movies.
High School High is a comedy that seems to pull in several directions.
On the other hand, it wants to be serious at times, like many romantic comedies, where you get emotionally invested with the people and the story.
These two styles don't cohere.I guess the problem is that the movie does too good of a job getting you to like the characters and wanting them to succeed.
Jon Lovitz as a dedicated teacher who turns his community around was halfway believable.
I enjoyed High School High, and there are PLENTY of genuinely funny moments.
High School High (1996): Dir: Hart Bochner / Cast: Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Mekhi Pfifer, Louise Fletcher, Malinda Williams: The sight of bagged liquor bottles dispensed through soda machines is the one brief sight joke that works in this failed formula crap.
Tired of his old school, teacher Jon Lovitz accepts a position at an inner city school where his car is stolen but his steering wheel lock remains.
Thin Line Between Spoof And High School High Life.
Jon Lovitz stars as a sweetly idiotic idealistic teacher, who thinks he can make a difference at a troubled inner city high school with its own cemetery, no less.
Mekhi Phifer and Malinda Williams are the high school kids that Lovitz could lose to the gangs.
The first half of the movie was pretty funny and consistently enjoyable, but then the second half deteriorates into a mishmash of scenes that are out of sync with the times (like the drag race), or plot turns that are out of sync with the tone of the film (like the drug plot).
It makes the mistake of trying to come out with a happy ending, as if it were a genuine movie made about high school life.
John Neville adds credibility as Lovitz' high brow father and Louise Fletcher does a wild turn as the "bitch" of high school principals.