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Private School

Play trailer Poster for Private School R,  1983,  1h 37m,  Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist - - 3 Reviews Tomatometer 38% 2,500+ Ratings Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 3 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Private-school student Christine (Phoebe Cates) loves Jim (Matthew Modine). But her classmate, Jordan (Betsy Russell), is also vying for Jim's attention and trying to end his relationship with Christine. Meanwhile, Jim's friend Bubba (Michael Zorek) embarks on a series of sexual escapades, including dressing up as a woman to access the girls' locker room. Despite Jim and Christine's efforts to spend some time alone, various shenanigans and schemes interfere.

Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Jun 19, 2018
2/4
Why are all these movies so anti-woman? Why are all the jokes about nudity directed at women? Why are the girls the only ones embarrassed in public? Go to Full Review
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Dec 21, 2019
2/4
Private School's mostly tolerable atmosphere is due almost entirely to the charm of the eclectic cast... Go to Full Review
Scott Weinberg eFilmCritic.com Jul 15, 2002
1/5
Private School is one of the most reviled movies in a monumentally despised genre. Hardcore porn has a better reputation than does Private School. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Draco M Mar 26, 2019 Not a complete waste of time because of Phoebe Cates and the soundtrack. Kathleen Wilhoite is nice too.
Rey W Jan 3, 2019 Classic 80's teen flick with all the usual high jinx, but with an underrated soundtrack... Even I didn't realise how good it really was until I watched it again more recently as an adult... Plus it's a Phoebe Cates film... Nuff said. See more
Han L Nov 5, 2018 Co-written with Suzanne O'Malley, Private School is Dan Greenburg's unconnected successor to Private Lessons. While young, irrational lust is a critical theme of both films, Private Lessons offers decent characterization and the semblance of a plot and character arc. In the earlier film the occasional appearance of Sylvia Kristel's breasts and rear end make sense. By the end Philly has transformed from a sneaky, shy, MILF-crazed adolescent to an over-confident, MILF-crazed adolescent (aside: Sylvia Kristel, the titular Emmanuel of many films, makes a reluctant appearance in Private School as sex-ed teacher, Ms. Copuletta, to fulfill contractual obligations to the film's producers). Private School, abandoning plot and characterization, opts for a pastiche of sex pranks, which inevitably result in exposed boobs - so many boobs. And the vast majority of these boobs belong to unnamed characters. Christine, played by Phoebe Cates, has a steady boyfriend Jim, Mathew Modine, but her dorm-mate, Jordan, played by Betsy Russell, ain't having it and sets about to break them up. In the equestrian center, during horsey practice, she flashes her breasts to him, as you do, at which point Jim's friend, Bubba (a tepid version of John Belushi's Bluto character if you will) triumphantly rips off the rest of her top at which point she guides her steed on a topless gallop around the arena. While Jordan isn't the least bit fazed at her exposure because she clearly has a Bad Motherfucker wallet, it's hard not to envision these male characters will have some explaining to do should they run for political office or obtain high-powered Hollywood jobs in the future. The film cherry-picks the fun and memorable scenes from Animal House and Porky's: a women's locker room; much climbing on the sides of red-brick school buildings and peering through windows. Bubba even passes up a chance at intercourse with his girlfriend to climb out the window to spy on his cross-dressed friend, Jim, with Jordan. But redemption sometimes follows sin. Aside from spying breasts, the film's characters never have any clear desires aside from Jordan who wants to break-up Christine and Jim in an escalation of their prank war. Like Glenn Close's Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, Jordan steals the show here. With her father on his seventh marriage, she can hardly be blamed for some cynicism about Jim and Christine's relationship. Without the need to boil a rabbit or brandish a knife, Jordan keenly exposes the thin ice upon which Christine and Jim's relationship is built. See more
Leia P Jan 10, 2018 ow, one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time.Especially seen through the eyes of today's lens. This is a movie totally told through a pervey man's point of view, with not a shred of reality to it. See more
Draco S Jul 18, 2017 Raunchy sex comedy about an all-girls boarding school. Not really funny. Not really well acted. But its difficult to hate Phoebe Cates and Betsy Russell. Boy were they hot back in the day. See more
Ron P Apr 30, 2017 Some memorable scenes but overall not that good. Kind of an awkward plot, pretty poorly put together at times . Phoebe Kate's from Gremlins and Fast Times is in it See more
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Private School

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Movie Info

Synopsis Private-school student Christine (Phoebe Cates) loves Jim (Matthew Modine). But her classmate, Jordan (Betsy Russell), is also vying for Jim's attention and trying to end his relationship with Christine. Meanwhile, Jim's friend Bubba (Michael Zorek) embarks on a series of sexual escapades, including dressing up as a woman to access the girls' locker room. Despite Jim and Christine's efforts to spend some time alone, various shenanigans and schemes interfere.
Director
Noel Black
Producer
R. Ben Efraim, Don Enright
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Unity Productions, Universal Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 29, 1983, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 18, 2014
Runtime
1h 37m
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