Class (1983)
Although it was lumped into the same category as all of those horny teenager movies from the 1980s, Class has much more to offer than most of them. Unfortunately, it comes off as two different movies that don't quite work together...and whether it's a comedy or not is debatable.
Class stars Andrew McCarthy as a poor, scholarship student who arrives at an exclusive prep-school and becomes roommates with rich, outgoing Rob Lowe. For the first third of the movie it is well-acted and entertaining and we want to see more about these guys and their school experiences. But then the 'high concept' plot kicks in...
McCarthy takes a solitary trip to the city and meets cougar Jacqueline Bisset and they begin a torrid affair, and it's this sex angle that became the focus of the film's promotion. The problem with this affair is that Bisset is Lowe's mother, and by the time McCarthy and Bisset realize who each other really are, their relationship is over, which is all well and good; however, the script gives itself a hernia twisting into knots contriving to get Lowe to discover his friend and mom in bed together (he arrives at their hotel room unannounced even though he really should't have had any idea where they were).
So, Lowe is pissed, naturally, which leads Class down into a third act that is overstuffed, underwritten and totally unresolved. Not only do we get the tension and anger between Lowe and McCarthy, there is also a big investigation at the school over SAT cheating that goes nowhere, and the surprise appearance of Cliff Robertson, as Lowe's dad, to tell us Bisset has checked herself into a mental asylum. So much for that plot thread. The film ends with an epic fist-fight between McCarthy and Lowe that ends in a tie and then the credits abruptly roll.
Class is much, much better than the bulk of the post-Porky's teen sex movies from that era (Hardbodies, Joysticks, Screwballs, Homework, etc.). It's crisply directed and the acting by the entire cast is quite good (also look for other stars-to-be John and Joan Cusack, Virginia Madsen, Alan Ruck and Casey Siemaszko in minor roles), but the script feels unfinished. There was an undeveloped concept plunked down in the middle of what could've been a classic youth picture. They should've just picked one idea and stuck with it.