American Graffiti<\/a>. Both Graffiti and Times delve beneath the surface of their characters, showing in the process that teenagers haven\u2019t changed all that much. They just quit cruising the main drag with Elvis. Now they \u201ccheck out\u201d the mall to the beat of the Go Go\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\tThe cast approaches the picture with a delightfully devil-may-care sincerity, playing off of one another with a simple ease. It is these characterizations, as written by Crowe and under the skillful eye of Heckerling, that give the film its charm. The most flamboyant in his characterization is Sean Penn as Spicoli, the bleached-out surfer with the permanently blood-shot eyes and a half-smile pinned to his cheeks. Penn provides the wilder moments at Ridgemont High, and to his credit, never dropped the reality of his character in going for a madcap laugh.<\/p>\n
\n\tJudge Reinhold\u2019s Brad also adds consistent comic edge to the picture with his sad eyes and fast food attitude. Robert Romanus, as Damone, would scalp Ozzy Osbourne tickets to his grandmother, and yet deftly treads the tightrope between cockiness and desperation. Phoebe Cates play the nymphette Linda to the hilt, showing only now and again the lost little girl inside. Jennifer Jason Leigh, as the freshman with a lot to learn, proaches her Stacy with the most even of keels. Her performance, although quite natural, tends toward the monochromatic. Brian Hecker, as the would-be beau, has little to do other than proffer an embarrassed smile. Veteran actor Ray Walston, as the history teacher, plays a sour-pussed straight man to the constant shenanigans of Spicoli.<\/p>\n
\n\tMusic plays an important role in Fast Times, offering an ambience that varies from \u201cOingo Boingo\u201d to Jackson Browne. Although the likes of the Go Go\u2019s and the Cars are present at times, the soundtrack as a whole seems too staid to provide a backdrop for \u201980s kids kicking around in the heyday of punk. Other technical credits include the fine work of Dan Lomin whose art direction gives the Sherman Oaks Galleria an intimacy it has never known. \u2014 Gina Friedlande, originally published on Aug. 11, 1982.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On August 13, 1982, Universal released teen comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High in theaters, marking the directorial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,134813,75,337],"class_list":{"0":"post-589089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-classic-reviews","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}