High School High

Gag-wise, this spoof from the Zucker Bros - actually just David plus major production help and lightweight scriptwriting assistance from Robert LoCash and Pat Proft - is an under-achiever. Lovitz plays the naive teacher son of a WASP headmaster who escapes the paternal shadow by accepting a post in the internecine groves of Marion Barry High. His beliefs set him at odds with rival Latino/Afro gangs and headmistress Louise Fletcher, who wields a baseball bat, but soon gets him 'skin-slapping' with 'educational assistant' Victoria (Carrere). Strangely, the director plays too much of the movie straight, slow and slushily romantic. This grants us dangerous leisure time to notice the script's dependence on racism, sexism and homophobia, ensuring that the moments of unrestrained, non-PC excess (a hilarious travesty of Chinatown clichés, for instance) prove the most rewarding.