I'd never heard of this film when it popped up on the Fox Movie Channel, but I noticed that it was a teen-sex comedy from the 80's, one of my favorite genres, so I had to see it. A few minutes in, it was quite apparent why I had never heard of this film before. It's god awful. I was laughing, but in all the wrong spots; their attempts at comedy were heavy handed and obvious, their attempts at building any kind of drama, hilarious! This film is shockingly 80's, the clothes, the hair; it's like spending the night at Steve Guttenberg's house.
The film concerns the cheerleader camp, Camp Beaver View; no, that's not a sexual innuendo or anything. Every year cheerleaders from around the country arrive at Beaver View, to receive the finest in cheerleader training. Tommy Hamilton is the lead instructor, he's in his mid 20's and feels like he should be done with cheerleading; unfortunately it's the only thing he's really good at. Well that, and getting girls, which is a prerequisite for any 80's teen movie heart-throb. He has an awful scene that plays like some kind homo-erotic rip-off of Flashdance, where's he's stripping off his clothes, dancing in the shower and even does some gymnastic moves on the plumbing, to give a couple of teenage girls some cheap thrills.
Anyways, Tommy wants out, to lead another life, away from the pom-poms and underage girls in short skirts constantly tempting him. The owner of the camp, Bucky, doesn't want him to leave, as he's the number one attraction. They come up with a bet; if Tommy can lead the super-lame Lucky Ducks, the camp's newest group of cheerleaders, a group of Catholic girl goody-two-shoes who couldn't pull off a hand-spring if their lives depended on it, to win the cheerleading competition at the end of the film, he gets to leave with $10k, if he can't, he has to sign a 5 year contract. Standing in his way are the Falcons, the reigning champs and all around bitches.
Tommy gets help from his group of teachers and another group of supposedly badass cheerleaders, lead by an 80's version of Betty Rizo (Grease). The Ducks lead girl Mary Ann, who looks the 80's version of Kristin Bell, is their only real hope; she's the one with the talent and the looks, and if she can get over her school-girl crush on Tommy, they'll have a chance. Along the way, she learns the facts of life from Rizo, by crashing a strip-club, and humiliating the Falcons and Bucky in disgusting and demeaning ways; she goes from super-good-girl, to badass-babe in a couple of days. They win in ridiculous fashion; you've never seen cheerleading like this, it's kind of a low-rent stripper version of a Broadway show, it really has nothing to do with traditional cheerleading. Bucky and the Falcons get more comeuppance, Tommy wins the bet and through the Japanese businessmen, that I haven't yet mentioned because of all the racist jokes, gets the camp to himself; and every one else goes home happy.
Gimme an F is bad, bad, bad. If I had grown up with this film I probably could have overlooked a lot of its faults with nostalgia, but seeing it for the first time as an adult, it didn't work. I admit I was entertained and laughed quite a bit, but only because of the film's lame attempts at building any kind of scene; it was made by Fox so it had some semblance of a budget, but it's surprisingly inept in it's filmmaking. It was released in 1984, the height of 80's teen-comedies, and it tries to cram something from every popular film before it; a bit of Flashdance's sexy dancing, Porky's crass humor and Meatballs' underdog spirit; and fails horribly on all accounts. Only bother if you're a glutton for bad movie punishment. They asked for it, so here it is - Grade: F
3/7/08
Labels: 1984, 80's movie, comedy, Daphne Ashbrook, Flashdance, Footloose, Gimme an F, Grease, Mark Keyloun, Meatballs, Paul Justman, Porky's, Stephen Shellen
5 Responses to Gimme an 'F':
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I am looking for this movie in DVD format. Like so many others i also watched this when i was probably too young to watch it.
Any help would be appreciated -
I also grew up with this movie and then it was cool. Now it is funny memories I also want this movie and have no idea how to get it.
and also if anyone knows Sahara with Brooke Shields -
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i loved this movie when i was a kid. and i love it today. The many crappy movies that have came out in the last five years could really learn something about good ol fashion t&a humor; and thats coming from a 30 yr. old women.
from the 80s flickluva in cc texas
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Actually I like this movie. Probably because it was my favorite movie when I was like 6. lol
In all honesty though I haven’t seen it since I was a kid (except for the few clips I’ve been able to find on youtube). I think maybe if I was seeing it for the first time as an adult I might think it was not a very good movie. Lol But as is, it brings back a lot of memories.
Looking back it baffles me how my parents could have let me watch it… It has a lot of sexual scenes. Thanks mom and dad, you turned me into a perv. lol