Subplot downers
Only Penn and Reinhold's arcs were entertaining. The rest of the movie is bleak and a downer.
Easy to forget how much of the movie is blah.
I feel bad for Gen Z.
They don't have a high school film.
There hasn't been a major one made for over ten years.
Juno (2007) and Superbad (2008) were the last.
Whoa, good observation. I hadn't considered this. Is it the fault of cellphones?
shareGood question on why HS films are out.
My guess- kids love Superhero films more, the movie Hunger Games really killed it. That is where the money is.
And/Or
A movie studio showing sexuality of 'technically' underage high school kids has become legally problematic and taboo in today's society.
And you make a good point...how do you come up with a good movie when a kids social interaction mostly comes by texting?
The taboo barrier is somehow larger and smaller at the same time in our current era. Probably an accurate call though.
I think the last few Spiderman movies could maaaybe qualify as HS movies (though I didn't see the 2nd one) but they are in the guise of standard superhero films. No one went to see them because they were HS movies.
Fast Times has always stood out to me as way more honest than most high school movies--especially since high school has its fair share of downer moments.
As for Gen Z, there's a movie called Eighth Grade (2018) that's set in middle-school, but right on the cusp of high school. Fun movie with a great performance by Elsie Fisher.
I don't think cell phones would do it. Cell phones would have to be a part of a modern teen movie, but modern teens do still interact.
shareTeen films were usually very politically incorrect and in a way truthful and desperate. I don't think you could make a film like that anymore. It would have to show everyone as being a victim of some sort of phobia and only the white guys could be portrayed as having flaws etc.
The females would be the ones who get to rise up and overcome everything. It would be a very miserable film.
Good point. You really cannot make a good modern high school movie with todays PC identity politics nonsense
shareHigh School Musical killed the genre
shareA high school movie of 2020-21 would just consist of scenes of teenagers lying in their beds texting and posting on social media, playing video games and attending remote learning classes.
shareand a lot of protest rallies. Gone are the days of the 3 R's, replaced with Advocating 101
shareYes, and if they tried to add more realism 4 out of 5 teens would be obese. It would be a tough watch.
shareThe closest to having a modern teen “hangout” film would be Everybody Wants Some (2016) but that takes place in college and was set in the 1980s.
shareLove Simon
Book Smart
Lady Bird
The Edge of Seventeen
The Kissing Booth
Sure, there are still some low budget films that few people have heard of.
Combine the cost of those four films probably doesn't equal one Fast Times.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)
shareLady Bird cost twice the amount of Fast Times. Granted, it was made 35 years later.
Lady Bird also grossed 10 times its budget world wide.
And it got nominated for, among other things, best director, picture and actress.
Does this movie focus more on her than high school life? If it does, that is not a TRUE high school movie. High school LIFE should be at the center of the story, not the life of a girl who goes to high school. Juno wasn't REALLY a high school film either.
This sounds like a coming of age film.
Lady Bird is a fantastic movie, but it's more of Christine's personal story than the kind of thing that Fast Times is.
sharebig bad world '15 for gen Z
share