Page 1 of 3
This teen comedy with Larry Miller and Janeane Garofalo has a solid pedigree, but falters in its delivery....
Well Go USA / 94 Minutes / 2012 / Rated PG-13 / Street Date: October 2, 2012
High school. Shit.
In General Education, the stillborn new teen comedy from director Tom Morris, the exploits of young Levi Collins (Chris Sheffield) in traversing the travails of higher education is a seriously difficult conundrum, an act that takes all focus of mind, body, and spirit to get through. Most viewers and critics cite Ferris Bueller's Day Off as a jumping-off point for the film, yet while that movie's irreverence and "Hey, girl" winkiness absolutely feels nearby throughout General Education, the movie should be so lucky.
See, Levi got a great tennis scholarship and is readying to run off and enjoy all that college has to offer, but a technicality pops up, and if Levi doesn't pass a last-minute bout of summer school with flying colors, his future will dissolve. There are issues with his father (Larry Miller), some shared buffoonery with his younger pal Charles (Skylan Brooks), and of course, a hot chick that sits next to Levi in class (ain't it always the way?).
Sometimes dingbat teen comedies succeed because they feel familiar - they tap into our shared puberty (or post-puberty) existence and deliver laughs that feel true, or at least relatable. But General Education is just uninspired. One gets the impression that its filmmakers had a blast cobbling together its light-on-its-toes narrative, but dramatic import and diverting haha-idiot comedy are truly absent here. There might be a fun little lark of a movie in here somewhere, but this Blu-ray release does not, alas, prove that for sure.