Movie Review: Back to School (1986)

Language: English
Genre: Comedy

A successful and wealthy businessman, Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield), visits his son Jason in college to tell him about his divorce. There he discovers that his son is not what he imagined him to be - he was not in a fraternity and is only a towel boy in the dive team and doesn't want to be in college anymore. Thornton tries to motivate his son to stay in college but he ends up joining the college himself to prove his point. Thornton buys his admission to the college with a hefty donation and moves in with his bodyguard Lou. In College, Thornton gets into trouble with his economics teacher Dr.Philip, falls in love with his English teacher Diane, gets his assignments written by other people, gets into fight with the football team and parties with kids quarter his age. With Dr. Philip waiting to knock him down, did Thornton manage to graduate, did he unite with his lady love and did his son come into terms with the college life forms the rest of the story.

The story by Dangerfield himself is predictable and moves in a leisurely pace. It is his terrific one-liners that keeps you glued to the movie. I quote some memorable one liners from the movie to give you a feel of it - Thornton to Jason, "You don't lie to me. You lie to the girls". Thornton finds his wife in an embarrassing situation with a waiter in a store room and exclaims "Hey Adam and Evil!". Thornton to Diane "I think I'm attracted to teachers. Yeah, I took out an English teacher. That didn't work out at all. I sent her a love letter... She corrected it!".

The supporting cast of Paxton Whitehead as Dr. Philip, Sally Kellerman as Dr. Diane and Burt Young are excellent. Keith Gordon plays his part as Jason Melon.

A trivia is that the actor Robert Downey Jr., who plays the role of  a sidekick - "Geeky" Derek with strange hair styles, is  the lead actor in Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes movies of 2009.

A surprise is that the Hindi movie Munnabhai MBBS seems to have been heavily inspired by this movie. A very old guy in the college, the rough but good hearted aide Circuit (Lou here), extending the dorm room scene, the first classroom session with the Dean (Prof Philip here), the lady love in the same college ... all seem to be more than just coincidence.

Overall, this movie is a complete entertainer and can be watched just for Dangerfield alone.