Movie Review: Back to School (1986)

Back to School is definitely a fun movie, though it’s far from a classic of comedy. If you thought Rodney Dangerfield was the best part of Caddyshack, well first off you’re correct, but you’ll likely enjoy this movie, since he’s basically just going around from scene to scene delivering his standup routine.

Dangerfield enrolls in college where his son is struggling, and immediately becomes a staple of the social scene on campus. But he also gets into some trouble with the academic side. He starts dating his English professor, but runs into some issues with his business professor, who wants to fail him, even though he has real world experience as a businessman.

Right off the bat it’s weird that the uppity professor guy is a business professor, since I don’t think I can think of a less “academic” subject. But whatever.

There’s a lot of humor in this movie that doesn’t work. Sam Kinison plays a history professor who just screams a lot and I understand that’s kind of his thing, but I’m at least assuming in his standup routines, he had better material to work with.

So it’s not great. But it’s good. It’s fun to see Dangerfield being his goofy self and making a mockery out of university life.

Rating: 7/10