High School High

High School High is a 1996 American comedy film about an inner city high school in the Los Angeles, California area, starring Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Mekhi Phifer, Louise Fletcher, Malinda Williams, and Brian Hooks. It is a spoof of movies concerning idealistic teachers being confronted with a class of cynical teenagers, disengaged by conventional schooling, and loosely parodies The Principal, Dangerous Minds, Lean on Me, The Substitute, and Stand and Deliver. It also notably parodies the LA River drag race from Grease.
== Plot ==
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.
== Cast ==
* Jon Lovitz as Richard Clark, a naive Caucasian teacher whose main goal is to help underachieving students at Marion Barry High School succeed.
* Lovitz also plays his own mother.
* Tia Carrere as Victoria Chappell, the principal's assistant who sympathizes with Richard.
* Louise Fletcher as Principal Evelyn Doyle, who believes Richard will fail.
* Mekhi Phifer as Griff McReynolds, one of Clark's students and a former gang member who aspires to graduate high school and attend college.
* Malinda Williams as Natalie Thompson, Griff's girlfriend.
* Guillermo Díaz as Paco de la Vega al Camino Cordoba Jose Cuervo Sanchez Rodriguez Jr., Griff's former gang partner.
* Brian Hooks as Anferny Jefferson, one of Clark's students. He is a slightly dimwitted gang member who only knows of urban pop culture.
* Natasha Gregson Wagner as Julie Rubels, one of Clark's students who is a teenage mother with many children.
* Marco Rodríguez as Mr. DeMarco, a gangster who is in the midst of a shady "business" deal with Paco and another mysterious gangster known as "Mr. A".
* John Neville as Thaddeus Clark, Richard's father.
* Lexie Bigham as Two-Bags, a member of Paco's gang.
* Gil Espinoza as Alonzo, a member of Paco's gang.
* Baoan Coleman as Mou Mou Bartender
== Release ==
The film opened at #2 on the weekend of October 25, 1996, behind the film Sleepers. The film remained in the top 5 for the next two weekends.[1]
=== Reception ===
The film received generally negative reviews upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 13% rating based on reviews from 15 critic, with an average rating of 4.2/10.[2] On Metacritic it has a score of 33 based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[3]
== Soundtrack ==
Professional ratings	Professional ratings
Review scores 	Review scores
Source 	Rating
Allmusic 	[4]
RapReviews 	(7/10)[5]
The film's soundtrack was released on September 10, 1996 through Big Beat Records and contained hip hop and R&B music. The album did well on the Billboard charts, making it to #20 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and was also certified Gold by the RIAA for selling over 500,000 copies in the United States of America.[6][7] In addition, 5 singles made it to the charts, the most successful of which was RZA's "Wu-Wear: The Garment Renaissance", which peaked at #60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #6 on the Hot Rap Singles.[8]
No.	Title 	Writer(s) 	Artist 	Length
1. 	"So Many Ways" 	Carl-So-Lowe, Jermaine Dupri, Bob James, Raymond Calhoun 	The Braxtons 	3:55
2. 	"I Got Somebody Else" 	Allen "Allstar" Gordon, Andrea Martin, Ivan Matias, Joel Campbell, Alan Gorrie, Owen McIntyre, Roger Ball, Hamish Stuart, Steve Ferrone, Malcolm Duncan 	Changing Faces 	4:17
3. 	"Wu-Wear: The Garment Renaissance" 	Robert Diggs, James Banks, Edward Marion, Henderson Thigpen 	RZA featuring Method Man & Cappadonna 	3:54
4. 	"Get Down for Mine" 	Kevin Hansford, Lenny Wright, Barry White 	Real Live 	4:00
5. 	"I Just Can't" 	Sean Combs, Steven Jordan, Marvin Scandrick, Daron Jones, Michael Keith, Quinnes Parker, Galt MacDermot 	Faith Evans 	3:43
6. 	"Your Precious Love" 	Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson 	D'Angelo & Erykah Badu 	4:11
7. 	"The Rap World" 	Peter Phillip, William Mitchell, Johnny Watson, Alan Gorrie, Owen McIntyre, Roger Ball, Hamish Stuart, Steve Ferrone, Malcolm Duncan, John Dankworth 	Large Professor & Pete Rock 	4:03
8. 	"Queen Bitch" 	Kimberly Jones, Carlos "6 July" Broady, Nashiem Myrick, Leonard Cohen 	Lil' Kim 	3:16
9. 	"Why You Wanna Funk?" 	Earl Stevens, Brandt Jones, Tenina Stevens, Denell Stevens, R.L. Green, Jr., Marvin Whitemon, Ronald Bell, Robert Bell, Claydes Smith, George Brown, Robert Mickens, James "J.T." Taylor, Eumir Deodato, Rick Westfield	Spice 1, E-40 & The Click 	4:08
10.	"I Can't Call It" 	Kevin Mercer, David Jollcoeur, Vincent Mason 	De La Soul 	3:28
11.	"Bohemian Rhapsody" 	Freddie Mercury 	The Braids 	4:00
12.	"High School Rock" 	Lawrence Parker, William Griffin, E. Griffin, Eric Barrier 	KRS-One 	3:35
13.	"Peace, Prosperity & Paper" 	Kamaal Fareed, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Malik Taylor 	A Tribe Called Quest 	4:01
14.	"Wild Side" 	Cedric Hailey, Joel Hailey, Dalvin DeGrate 	Jodeci 	3:45
15.	"The Ultimate" 	Rahem Brown, Elloitt Williams, Paul Hendricks, Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, Norman Landsberg 	Artifacts 	4:12
16.	"The Next Spot" 	Derrick Murphy, Maxwell Dixon 	Sadat X & Grand Puba 	3:46
17.	"Skrilla" 	Brad Jordan, Devin Copeland, Roderick Smith, Loretta Dorsey, Harold Armstong, J. Dorcy, D. Jones 	Scarface & Facemob 	3:45
18.	"Semi-Automatic: Full Rap Metal Jacket"	Robert Diggs, Jason Hunter, Lamont Hawkins, Prince Charles Alexander 	Inspectah Deckfeaturing U-God & Streetlife	4:01
19.	"The Good, the Bad and the Desolate" 	Tariq Trotter, Ahmir-Khalib Thompson, Malik Abdul-Basit, James Gray, Scott Storch 	The Roots 	4:06
20.	"C'mon N' Ride It (The Train), Pt. 2" 	Jay McGowan, Nathaniel Orange, V. Bryant, M. Phillips, Barry White 	Quad City DJ's 	3:54
Year	Title	Chart positions	Chart positions	Certifications 
(sales thresholds)
Year	Title	U.S. 	U.S. R&B 	Certifications 
(sales thresholds)
1996	High School High
* Released: September 10, 1996
* Label: Atlantic	20 	4 	
* US: Gold
==References==