THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509150041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Teenology Movie Review
SOURCE: BY TAMAR ANITAI, TEENOLOGY MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
FOR HIGH SCHOOL seniors, going back to school can have its down side - final grades, SAT's (again), college applications, battling for parking spaces, not to mention the long 180-day wait until graduation.
But you can't forget about the glory of senior year - finally being the oldest in the school, beating up freshman, partying at your principal's house when you should be in English on a Tuesday, moshing at your senior assembly, getting drunk in the back of the bus on your senior trip, putting makeup on your unconscious principal. You know - your basic senior thrills.
Ah, yes, what could beat using the class brain - while in detention - to write a letter to the president demanding education reforms and landing a free trip to the nation's capital to bring your demands to the floor of the U.S. Senate? Talk about a way to relieve the stress-induced ailments of senior year!
Well, the seniors of Fairmount High, the fictitious (thank goodness) high school of ``National Lampoon's Senior Trip,'' don't exactly find themselves experiencing too many stress-related ailments, at least not of academic origin. These dramatic, lamentably stereotypical seniors do, however, find themselves in the above-described situation.
The motley group of ``students'' represents every high school label - geeks, nerds, losers, punks, iconoclasts, pigs, burn-outs and junkies, not to mention those who are sexually, um, ``mature.''
Their ring-leaders are two Beavis and Butthead-resembling party animals. They lead the group of theatrical disgraces on a wild ``trip'' through Washington, D.C., while, of course, managing to insult every ethnic or social group in existence and a few more too.
While partying it up (partying seems to be a recurrent theme) with D.C.'s rich and famous, the educational deal turns out to be as politically corrupt as former Sen. Packwood. The ``students'' arrive at the Senate and denounce their evil state senator and stand up for the rights of education and liberty and justice for all, amen and God bless America!
``National Lampoon's Senior Trip'' appeals to the most base levels of humor and intellect. All attempts at humor are based on alcohol, drugs, profanity (namely the middle-finger), sex or severe bodily injury.
All adults are portrayed as bumbling morons easily fooled by the students' primitive trickery. If comedy mirrors reality, what a sad reflection this is of at-risk youth.
So here's your first pop-quiz of the school year. Use a No. 2 pencil. No cheating. Keep your eyes on your own paper.
``National Lampoon's Senior Trip'' is:
a. A slapstick waste of time.
b. Juvenile and obscene.
c. Obnoxious and offensive.
d. Unrealistic and puerile.
e. All of the above.
Answer: Although answers a through d are accurate and true, the best answer is e, all of the above.
Class dismissed. ILLUSTRATION: Tamar Anitai is a senior at First Colonial High School.
by CNB