The Michael J. Fox Database :: DVD Review

Text on Back of Package

Like most schools, Excelsior Union High School has it's clearly defined groups - the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. But when Jay Jay Manners (Michael J. Fox: Stuart Little, Back to the Future), class clown and champion of the nerds falls for the girlfriend of town aristocrat Beau Middleton (Anthony Edwards: "ER", Revenge of the Nerds), Beau and his preppy friends set out to ruin jay Jay's reputation. But Jay Jay refuses to bow down to the King of the Preps and, pulling out all the stops, is determined to prove that nice guys don't always finish last!

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GENERAL DISC INFORMATION

DISTRIBUTOR :: Hearst Entertainment Inc.; Eve Digital
CASE TYPE :: Amray
BOOKLET :: None
RUNNING TIME :: 96 minutes
ASPECT RATIO :: Full Frame
SOUND MIX :: Dolby Digital English 2.0 Stereo
SPOKEN LANGUAGES :: English
CAPTIONS/SUB-TITLES :: None
MENUS :: One main menu - text links
NAVIGATION :: Poor
PICTURE QUALITY :: Okay; Slightly better than VHS quality; color washed out

SPECIAL FEATURES

None

WEBMASTER'S REVIEW :: WARNING -- POSSIBLE SPOILERS

My first observation upon receiving this DVD: What is the deal with that cover art? This movie has absolutely nothing to do with football (thank goodness). However, being manufactured in Canada, it is possible that they put a football player on the cover because that's all the USA is about, right? Cowboys and football players? hehe.

Anyway, this DVD is the barest of bare-bone DVDs. The only thing on this disc is the movie itself and a chapter selection. I was impressed with the logo that was designed for the menu, however.

On the down side, the print quality of the film is not much better than the VHS I bought a few years ago. On the plus side this print will never get any worse and the print's not terrible, just not what I'm used to when I buy DVDs.

This movie is a nice little time capsule of the early 80's and how the rich preppies had taken over high school society. Today, I'm sure the rich kids still rule, but it seems to me that the rude, arrogant punks are more in control than anyone. Just an observation. :)

It's also a nice time capsule of the teen tv stars of the early 1980s: Michael J. Fox, Nancy McKeon, Todd Bridges, the late Dana Plato, and half the female cast of Happy Days. It also stars a few of today's big stars: Anthony Edwards ("E.R.") and Crispin Glover.

Crispin Glover (Archie Feld) and Michael Zorek (Chucky Dimple) both appeared on "Family Ties" as Alex Keaton's friends and of course, Crispin Glover starred as George McFly in Back to the Future and Michael Zorek appeared in 'Teen Wolf Too' which wasn't a Michael J. Fox project, but close enough!

While the plot of this movie is not the most original, it is a fun little fluff movie with a few nice touches and if you're a fan of classic TV, the adult cast should all be familiar to you. From Wally to Gilligan, a lot of our classic TV pals are featured in this movie.

On a personal note: I met Angela Cartwright (Miss D'Angelo and child star of "Lost in Space" and The Sound of Music) at a convention a few years ago and she is one of the nicest ladies I have ever met. She said that she had a lot of fun making this movie. (An autographed photo of Ms. Cartwright is in the High School U.S.A. picture gallery.)