Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a fairly nice teen comedy which follows the lives of six or so teenagers as they navigate high school.  It involves Sean Penn as a stoner and this stoner character seems to be the source of most of this film's appeal, but the film is much more than just his oh-so-goofy misadventures.  The bulk of the film revolves around the kids' relationships and the film takes these relationships seriously.

I particularly liked that the film didn't just follow a group of male teens on some hooting, squawking quest to touch the fabled boob.  There are a few sex scenes but they're fumbling and awkward, more about vulnerability and a sense of having bumbled into something you don't know how to deal with yet.  It feels so much more realistic and reasonable than, say, Risky Business or Project X (which oh my god I just hate that movie, Project X so much.)  And this is in keeping with the rest of the film, this clear-eyed compassion.  This is a kindly film.

The film is very on the side of its teens.  The worst of them I suppose is Brad, who is a little fast-food middle-manager whose position has gone to his head, but even he is humbled and rebuilt again, perhaps now a better man.  There's also a sleazy wheeler-and-dealer type guy who is currently harmless but will probably become a petty drug dealer.  He's fairly obnoxious, but harmless and colorful for now.  Similarly the girls are sweet and nervous, one maybe making up a super dreamy boyfriend who goes to a different school.

I thought the film was sweet.  It's an amiable, comfortable world where these kids are allowed to still be young and uncertain and to make mistakes.  Nothing serious comes of anything.  There's a quite serious bit right in the middle (spoiler: an abortion) but right after, the characters are smiling and talking softly, moving on and healing.  This is a somewhat more realistic, somewhat more kind version of reality that I enjoyed visiting for a while and which was not what I was expecting, given the Teen Sex Comedy Genre.