Class Blu Ray Review (MGM)

Class is a 1983 comedy directed by Lewis John Carlino (The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea and The Great Santini). It was written by Jim Kouf (The Boogens, Up the Creek, Money Monster, National Treasure franchise, Rush Hour, Gang Related, and The Hidden franchise) and David Greenwalt (Grimm, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Profit, The Commish, Wacko, and Secret Admirer). The budget was $7,000,000 and it grossed $21,667,789 worldwide at the box office. Jonathan Ogner (played by: Andrew McCarthy from Pretty in Pink, Weekend at Bernie’s franchise, Mulholland Falls, Less Than Zero, Kingdom Hospital, Mannequin, St. Elmo’s Fire, and The Resident) makes an awful first impression when arriving to prep school. He is pranked by his new roommate Squire Franklin “Skip” Burroughs IV (played by: Rob Lowe from Tommy Boy, Wayne’s World, St. Elmo’s Fire, The Outsiders, The Stand, About Last Night, Bad Influence, Salem’s Lot, and The West Wing) right away. Jonathan decides to get revenge on Skip and he pranks him back soon after which really embarrasses the popular student. Skip and Jonathan bond over this and they really became friends after their rough start. After several failed attempts to find Jonathan a date, Skip vows to help him have a successful sexual encounter. He sends Jonathan to Chicago to hook up with someone easy to get confidence. He is picked up by an older beautiful woman named Ellen (played by: Jacqueline Bisset from Bullitt, Casino Royale, Murder on the Orient Express, Airport, The Deep, Wild Orchid, and Nip/Tuck) after being embarrassed at the bar. Jonathan lies to her about his age and his current education. They continue to hook up but Jonathan gets feelings way too quickly and it starts to scare her off. When she finds his real student I.D., she run aways from the passionate affair. This whole time he is bragging to his new best friend Skip about all his sexual experiences. Over Christmas break, Skip invites Jonathan to spend Christmas with him and his family at the Burroughs estate. Jonathan discovers that Ellen is actually Skip’s mother. He tries to stop their relationship when she contacts him several times trying to reconnect. He agrees to meet to just to talk but it ends up being sexual again. Skip wants to mess with his friend so he shows up with classmates which includes Roscoe (played by: John Cusack from Sixteen Candles, Better Off Dead, The Sure Thing, Say Anything, One Crazy Summer, Stand By Me, and Eight Men Out) and Rodger (played by: Alan Ruck from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Twister, Speed, Bad Boys, Young Guns II, and Spin City) to find him in bed with his mother. This causes serious problems with the roommates and everything becomes very awkward between them. The prep school starts investigating the students cheating on their tests. Skip knows the truth about Jonathan and why he earned early acceptance at Harvard. Will he get revenge? or Will he keep his roommate”s secret???? Class is a little different than your typical 80’s teen comedy. It’s actually more adult themed compared to most of them. It has a top notch script that really gives the leads so much to add to their performances here. I love the chemistry between Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy. It’s really what drives Class and it builds up the tension between them. They start off as rivals but they end up respecting each other as friends. I do find it ironic that McCarthy ends up banging Lowe’s mom considering the Skip character kinda tortures Jonathan throughout the entire film. I guess it’s just their odd relationship but the spoiled Skip loves being a bully to anyone. Both of the actors do some of their best work in Class. Jacqueline Bisset as Ellen is a total cougar in this 80’s comedy. She looks amazing and you can see why Jonathan falls for her so quickly. You can tell she’s a little bit of a mess when you first meet her here but she means well when she tries to help Jonathan at the bar. Things just heat up and happen out of nowhere from there. It’s a wild triangle between all three leads in Class. Jonathan tries to end everything when he finds out that he’s been hooking up with his best friend’s mom but he can’t help temptation. It’s a nice little twist if you haven’t seen it before. It’s promoted everywhere and most people people already know so I don’t feel like I’m spoiling anything crazy here. Class is loaded with familiar faces for it’s supporting cast that includes John Cusack, Alan Ruck, Cliff Robertson (Spider-Man trilogy), Stuart Margolin (Death Wish), Virginia Madsen (Candyman), Casey Siemaszko (Three O’Clock High), Anna Maria Horsford (Friday franchise), Joan Cusack (Grosse Pointe Blank), Suzanne Snyder (Killer Klowns from Outer Space), and Lolita Davidovich (Raising Cain). Class is very fun and beyond entertaining, it still has strong replay value to it. Like I said before, I always appreciated that this one was always a little different compared to all the others at the time, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from MGM! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is the same restoration as the previous Olive Films home video release. It’s still a solid upgrade from all the older versions from back in the day. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track on the disc. The audio sounds great here especially the soundtrack. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the laughs are elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. Don’t let the artwork fool you, this is a pro pressed home video release and it’s not a BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!