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Do you remember the anxiety you faced when you tried to choose a college? No? Me neither. But apparently for a lot of people, choosing the institution of higher learning is a big deal. Granted, this movie's unrealistic in that most people are concerned about their education, whereas most real college students would be more concerned with how close their dorm is to the nearest bar. But I digress.

Odds are, you've not seen How I Got Into College. When it was released in 1989, it was barely a blip on the radar screen, and it ended up grossing less than $2 million. Too bad. It's a funny, charming little movie that's certainly worth your time.

Marlon (Corey Parker) is preparing to graduate high school and move on to college. But he doesn't know what to do. He'd really just rather follow Jessica Kailo (Lara Flynn Boyle) to wherever she's going to go to school. Her dad wants her to attend Michigan. She decides on Ramsey College. Therefore, Marlon decides on Ramsey. Problem is, Marlon doesn't have the grades for it. He's hurting when it comes to the SAT (he's taunted by Man A and Man B, the two guys from seemingly every SAT question, in several witty fantasy sequences), and gets help from a couple of would-be learning tutors, Bauer and Bennedict (Nora Dunn and Phil Hartman). He also gets encouragement from a Ramsey recruiter (Anthony Edwards, with hair!). So Marlon must devise a way to catch the eye of both Jessica and the Ramsey enrollment people.

How does he do it? He tries several things (at the requests of Bauer/Bennedict) like starting a daycare center, juggling, and taking up professional wrestling, all in the hopes of getting into Ramsey. Does it work? Watch it and find out, you freaks.

Director Savage Steve Holland brings another light touch this time around. I like this movie every bit as much (and maybe more) as his previous efforts, Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summmer. Solid performances from Parker and Boyle, plus nice smaller turns from Hartman, Dunn, Edwards and a goofy as hell cameo from Curtis Armstrong, better known as "Booger" from the Revenge Of The Nerds films.

A decent Saturday night rental.

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=1285&reviewer=7
originally posted: 11/19/98 01:57:00
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