One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

As Good As It Gets

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

My mom introduced this movie to me and my brother and sung its praises like no other. She told us that this was done by Carl Reiner, father of the legendary Rob Reiner. Like with so many other movies that came out of the 1980's, this is one that will never be forgotten. In addition, this is a unique high school movie that will leave you in stitches because you laugh so hard. Then again, that's always been Carl's claim to fame: make you laugh so hard that you forget about a bad day.It all begins with Freddy Shoop (Mark Harmon before he joined "NCIS"), a devil-may-care gym teacher who is laser-focused on going to Hawaii for summer vacation. Then comes the principal and practically forces him to teach remedial English for summer school. There goes the summer vacation and he has to teach a motley crew of students who don't exactly have the best academic records in the world.Two of the students he has to teach are horror movie fans who know their way around special effects and the like. You also have pregnant Rhonda (Shawnee Smith before she was in "Saw" and just before she was in "The Blob"), as well as a foreign exchange student and a surfer girl who likes Shoop more than a typical teacher and student should. Everyone has their own story to tell and he has to deal with it.Probably one of the best scenes in the movie is when Shoop decides to leave and the students make a stand to get him back by scaring the living daylights out of a temporary substitute with the help of their horror movie aficionado classmates, essentially scaring her off. They then go down to the beach, still in their horror movie attire, and plead to Shoop to come back. He concedes, of course, and the students eventually take a formal English test (the fill in the bubble kind, of course), proving the cynical principal wrong in so many ways.Needing a good laugh? Had a bad day? Sit down and watch "Summer School." It's one of the craziest comedies to ever come out of the 1980's and I guarantee you will watch it over and over again.

Spirited, fun-loving gym coach (Mark Harmon, never more charming or high energy) is saddled with high school kids stuck in summer school due to terrible grades in English, needing to get them to pass a test at the end so he can reach tenure. While the vice principal (a well cast stick-in-the-mud Robin Thomas) doubts Harmon can do it, the kids, through bribing (Harmon agrees to grant them favors if they will allow him to teach them English!), start to actually study and learn progressively. Meanwhile Harmon continues to ask fellow teacher Kirstie Alley (never more yummy) out on a date, unimpeded by her constant rejection towards him.An electric cast of familiar faces in young roles, a splendid sunny coastal setting, sense of humor that aims to please, breezy direction that makes the most of the formula plot, and some delightful homages to the slasher films of the 80s (this was around '87 as slasher films were riding the high soon to wane in the next few years) really keep the film appealing. It is a cult comedy that is anchored (and boosted) by Harmon's winning personality (he is mostly known as a dramatic actor with more effort toward intensity and sincerity which makes this character a welcome change of pace for him) with memorable duo of horror make-up aficionados, Chainsaw and Dave (Dean Cameron and Gary Riley, quite a pair), leaving a zany impression. But the cast is filled with faces those who grew up with television and movies in the 80s and 90s know: Patrick Labyorteaux (Little House on the Prairie; Heathers; Ghoulies III: JAG) as football player needing to lift his grades to make the team, Courtney Thorne-Smith (Melrose Place; Ally McBeal) as teenage surfer infatuated with Harmon, Kelly Jo Minter (after this she was in both The Lost Boys and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5) as dyslexic student trying to get her driver's license, Ken Olandt (April Fool's Day was right before this and he also starred in Leprechaun a few years later) as underage stripper who sleeps during summer class, Shawnee Smith (Saw; Who's Harry Crumb?) as pregnant teenager Labyorteaux takes a shine to, Richard Steven Horvitz as allergy-plagued dork who is burdened with being the black sheep in terms of not passing class (he has made a career as a voice artist), foxy foreign exchange student Fabiana Udenio who eventually strips to bikini and is an object of lust for the horror film geeks to drool over, and hulking Duane Davis who goes to the bathroom on the first day and returns the last to take the test (and passes with the highest grade!).Memorable scenes include the cast frightening a sub for Harmon with a splatter scene right out of a Freddy movie (the make-up effects are epic!), Harmon losing his girlfriend to a Hawaii trip as he must stay behind in order to remain employed, fireworks setting Harmon's couch on fire during a party at his house, Harmon's early teaching methods (which included field trips to an amusement park and the library), the summer school ending exams which had all the students rushing to just finish them, and the driver's exams where Cameron and Minter have their share of problems. Harmon and Alley have good chemistry, and his efforts finally pay off at the end...and how Harmon tries to disable Courtney's crush on him comes with some complications. Harmon's simply infectious, and NCIS fans might want to take a look at this to see a more laid-back and easy-breezy personality quite different from the rock of Gibraltar he inhabits on the long-time military action show.

This is just a great comedy/summer movie. It's light -- though with some serious moments -- and just a lot of fun. Mark Harmon as Freddie Shoop is so believable, and likable, as the lost-at-sea-but-with-a-good-heart teacher forced to teach summer school. His class of misfits is great, believable and likable too; a cluster of perhaps damaged souls and "outsiders" going through a tough time in anyone's life – high school. Shoop is a bit of a slacker, in his own right, and manages to get himself into some awful situations, that in real life could go horribly wrong. But in the film world he's allowed to work them out and turn them -- and his young charges -- right. The situations are hilarious -- some, painfully so. And Robin Thomas as the sneaky-bastard vice principal Mr. Gills is truly unlikeable, in a very fun way. Kirstie Alley's Ms. Bishop is sedate and sensible -- the perfect foil for Shoop. And, of course, there's Wondermutt. What a great dog – and the perfect "mascot" for this film. Everything about this movie works, and I highly recommend it. It will make you laugh and feel better about life.

Jethro Gibbs he is not in this movie. Mark Harmon is an all around fun grown up who hasn't grown up. Even though this movie was filmed in the 80s, the only real way to tell was Pam's uncles awful mullet, a bit of clothing, and the free sunglasses. This movie could've been filmed yesterday and you probably wouldn't even notice. Courtney Thorne-Smith is painfully sexy, Kirsty Allie coming in second. The acting is surprisingly good, and there are minimal obvious errors and goofs. This movie is fun, easy to watch, and a real "brighten up your day" kinda film. Mark Harmon, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Kirsty Allie, and Wonder Mut...all on the beach. What more could you want? Thumbs up twice for this gem!