Product Description

A laid-back high school coach (Mark Harmon) reluctantly forfeits a Hawaiian vacation to teach remedial English to a class of likable misfits. This goofy comedy tells the sweetly inspiring story of the group of high school slackers who seem destined to fail until they land in the coach's class. As both students and teacher accept the fact that they must complete the course, all learn a great deal about themselves, their priorities, and friendship.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19521 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2007-05-22
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.com
A weak, lazy comedy about an easygoing teacher (Mark Harmon, whose movie career never had the kind of trajectory that his TV work did) who is forced to teach--you guessed it--summer school. What's worse, he gets exactly the kind of kids you'd expect: the losers and slackers who are forced to make up the work they didn't complete during the year. He tries to duck work and let them fend for themselves. But in this mushy Carl Reiner film, the teacher offers some life lessons to his band of delinquents and--surprise, surprise--the kids impart a lesson or two to their teacher, as well. Harmon coasts through the film on his good looks, which are considerable. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Harmless Fun
1987's Summer School is an underrated comedy from the 80's. The plot revolves around reluctant summer school teacher, Freddy Shoop (Mark Harmon), who is forced into the job after the original teacher hits the lottery. Shoop is a gym teacher and he must deal with a classroom full of typical high school misfits. Throughout the summer, Shoop's unconventional teaching methods get him trouble with the school's vice principal, but wins over the kids. The film is carried by the immensely likable cast. Mr. Harmon reactions to the student's quirks and miscues are perfectly timed and the students provide genuine laughs. Dean Cameron & Gary Riley are hilarious as shock meisters Chainsaw and Dave, Richard Steven Horowitz plays the perfect geek as Alan Eakain and a young Courtney Thorne-Smith is alluring as Pam House who develops a big time thing for Shoop. Kirstie Alley shows up as a love interest for Shoop. Summer School is a great, lightweight movie that is small on plot, but big on laughs and fun.

Great Movie
Summer School is by far one of my all-time favorite movies to watch. You can never get bored with it, I must have watched it 200 times or more. The movie is all about a high school gym teacher (Mark Harmon) Freddy Shoop who is forced to teach remedial English class in summer school to a group of social misfits. Shoop has no idea how to teach and instead of hitting the books, they hit the amusement parks, beaches, petting zoos, amongst other places. His students include: Chainsaw & Dave who are obssessed with horror movies and play pranks on the vice president. Larry who sleeps in class throughout the entire movie. Pam who has a crush on her teacher Mr. Shoop. Jerome Watkins who spends 9 weeks in the bathroom because his zipper got stuck! Allen Ekian who is your basic "geek/nerd". Ronda who is pregnant and doesn't know who the father is. Denise Green who is trying to get her drivers license but is a terrible driver to say the least! In order for Shoop to get his students to learn he has to bribe them! Chainsaw & Dave get to have a party at shoops house on the 4th of July, a ride to and from work, plus a in school screening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. Larry gets his own bed in the classroom. Pam "needs a place to stay" and gets to move in with Mr. Shoop. Mr. Shoop has to become Ronda's Lamoz coach. He has to give Denise driving lessons. And Mr. Shoop has to be Kevin's "tackling dummy" in case he makes it back on the football team. It's hard to explain in words how funny this movie is, you'll just have to see it for yourself!

Great film, but a disappointing double-dip DVD release.
Everybody knows SUMMER SCHOOL is an 80's classic, so I'll skip the review and tell you what the "Life's a Beach Edition" features are.

A 2.35:1 widescreen transfer compared to the original DVD's 1.78:1, a trailer, a stills gallery, a boring audio commentary with director Carl Reiner and Mark Harmon and two short featurettes.

The first featurette: "Inside the Teachers Lounge" (14 min.) stars writer Jeff Franklin, director Carl Reiner and cast members Mark Harmon, Patrick Labyorteaux, Robin Thomas, Dean Cameron, and Ken Olandt. The second is "Summer School Yearbook" (10 min.) has some interview clips of the cast. Nothing deep or profound...it's only 10 minutes long.

Is it worth buying if you already have the original DVD? Not really.

Also what's up with the misleading "bikini xing" cover art? The movie's rated PG-13.