Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A Great DVD
This movie is a great movie. It's a classic. Even at 20 years old, it is funny and smart. Cameron Crowe did an awesome job with the screenplay. Amy Heckling did a great job directing as well.The plot is somewhat simple. It's about 6 kids who are in high school, and they are growing up fast and not realizing it. The kids are: Jeff Spicoli( Sean Penn ) who is a stoner, surfer dude, who is extremely funny and well played by Sean Penn. Stacy Hammilton( Jennifer Jason Leigh ) who is a younger girl who is just trying to fit in in high school. Brad Hammilton ( Judge Reinhold ) who is Stacy's older brother, who has a tough time in the fast food world during his senior year. Linda ( Phoebe Cates ) who is a beautiful girl who has a lot of knowledge about sex and relationships. Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brain Backer) who is the theater's manager's assistant and ticket-taker who falls in love with Stacy. Damone (Robert Romanus) who is a ticket-scalper who becomes Rat's mentor. I think I got everything right, oh well. It was orginaly rated X (X was the NC-17 back then) because of the pool house sex scene, but that was trimmed a little for its R rating. There's not that much cursing, and there's just a little bit of drug content. So the R is just due to the nudity (maybe 20 total seconds of it, but it's spread out into 3 parts). There's only a couple gross-out gags (maybe about 3 or 4)...As for the extra features, not bad. The Commentary with Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe- is actually watchable. I liked it. It had some funny parts. There was some cursing (maybe 15 cuss words) but it was never very offensive. The documentary- It was 39 minutes long. It was alright. I personally liked the "Fast Times At Ridgemont High: True Hollywood Story" on E! Entertainment Television better, but this was a good extra feature. The production notes- Always nice to have included. I like that they were on here. Cast & Filmakers- Also, this is always nice to have. On this digital video disc, it has biographies and filmographies for the 6 characters I mentioned early in my review, Ray Walston (who plays Mr. Hand), and Amy Heckerling. I also like having this on the disc. Theatrical Trailer- This is also an awesome special feature. I like this too. Hangouts Of Ridgemont High (Video Map)- It has a map that you can pick about 3 places in the movie, and then it shows you what they are and how they are used now. The places are the school, the mall, and the baseball dugout(it's called something else in the movie, but I don't remember.) A good extra feature. Music Highlights- Excellent. You can pick any song, and it will show you the scene in the movie where the song was played. Another good special feature. Overall it was good. It is 1.85: 1 widescreen, not too bad picture quality, great sound, and awesome menus. It has a couple of menus where you can pick a famous quote from the movie, and see the scene that it was in. I suggest you purchase this.It's a great buy.
Rating:  - Awesome when first viewed. Does it stand the test of time?
I was probably the last one in my group to see this flick. In the very early 80s, this movie was a riot, delightfully risque to the teen-age mind - a virtual fantasy to a lot of us (who wouldn't want an easy score like Jennifer Jason Leigh), with several points of relevancy. A lot has changed since those days, and viewing this movie in hindsight - almost 20 years later - makes one realize just how politically correct times are today. Not that that's a bad thing. Imagine a high school freshman like Leigh so casually considering an abortion today? That's not to say only 30-somethings will find this movie funny. Even after the 80s and 90s and all that made them unique, this movie isn't totally outdated - it still has its moments. But don't expect those seeing it for the first time to find it as hilarious as you do in all your sentimental journey. Still, this is, in my opinion, Sean Penn's best role to date, as Jeff Spicolli, the typical partying clown of the early 80s. Jennifer Jason Leigh in her most underrated role, exciting the hell out of all us who at our young age dreamt of scoring with such a willing little cutie. But if a flick like this were to open up at your local theatre today, there'd be hell to pay for those involved. I think when viewed these days, I laugh merely because it reminds me of who I was, who me and my friends were, or weren't back in that time. But does it have the staying power a true comedy classic does? My guess is that's a purely subjective conclusion.
Rating: - "Why don't you get a job, Spicoli?" "What for?"
Slice of life of Southern California kids dated with great early '80's tunes. Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) are interested in the fair sex, but their more experienced friends Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates) and Mike Damone (Robert Romanus) give them hopelessly bad advice. Great performances all around, but the scene-stealers are surfer pothead Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn), who thinks nothing of having a pizza ordered in to his history class, Stacey's older brother Brad (Judge Reinhold), who has bum luck with women and jobs, and history teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), who has all the patience of a boiling tea kettle. Unfortunatly, extra scenes that appear on Comedy Central among other stations are not included here, as director Heckerling is not particularly fond of them. Look for Nicholas Cage, Anthony Edwards, and Eric Stoltz as Spicoli's fellow stoners, and Forest Whittaker as Ridgemont's football hero. Bruce Springsteen's younger sister Pamela appears briefly as a cheerleader.
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