Back to School

viewed August 19, 2000 on TMC  Full Details

The only Rodney Dangerfield movie I've ever seen -- and I honestly wonder why I haven't seen another, given just how damn good this one is.  Seeing it for the first time since I was 11, I had a pleasure in watching that was deeper than just nostalgia.  Solidly written, full of  Dangerfield zingers, with some redeeming content about father-son relationships thrown in and handled quite well, Back to School is thorough entertainment.  Dangerfield comes off like a modern reincarnation of W.C. Fields: unapologetically indulgent and thoroughly likeable, like Homer Simpson's smarter brother, he is the everyman with a serious beer belly. 

The supporting cast is a delight: Sally Kellerman as the sensual English Professor, Burt Young as Dangerfield's chauffeur, Ned Beatty as the ass-kissing Dean Martin, and -- a moment of silence -- Sam Kinison as the history professor ("Say it! Say it!!!").  Best of all is Robert Downey Jr. as the kid who is way too smart for college, not to mention the new wave hairdo he unadvisedly sported for the part.  Second best is a cameo from out of nowhere: Dangerfield needs to write a report on Kurt Vonnegut.  Who does he hire to write it for him?  Kurt Vonnegut.  When Kellerman flunks the report, Dangerfield refuses to pay the esteemed author and a classic phone exchange occurs: "Fuck me? Well fuck you, Vonnegut!"   

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