Does a film count as a guilty pleasure if one doesn’t feel terribly guilty about their affection for it? I don’t know, but I suppose 1987’s Summer School falls into that category.

I loved the movie back in the late 1980s. While I now see more of its flaws, it remains a reasonably fun and amusing piece.

Vice Principal Phil Gills (Robin Thomas) forces slacker gym teacher Freddy Shoop (Mark Harmon) to teach summer school to students who failed an English skills test. Shoop’s class includes a motley mix of kids with a variety of issues.

Shoop initially doesn’t take his task seriously, but when threatened with dismissal, he works harder to actually teach the kids. As these efforts develop, Shoop also attempts to woo fellow teacher Robin Bishop (Kirstie Alley) and help the kids in their personal lives.

Summer School exists as one of those films I can’t judge objectively. As I noted already, I loved it in the 1980ss and although I went long stretches between screenings, I still remembered it very well.

Actually, my viewing of the DVD years back solved an ongoing confusion. I occasionally use the phrase “dumb dildo” but for the life of me, I couldn’t recall where I got it. Summer School is the answer - I felt so relieved when I heard it!

Plenty of other lines and gags stayed in my head, so at times, I couldn’t quite establish if I felt amused because the material was actually funny or simply because of my fond memories. To be sure, School hasn’t aged terribly well in a variety of wats. The movie comes across as a product of its era, with the usual broad wackiness and 1980s attitude on full display.

The movie also suffers from some notable plot holes. We see lots of students early in the film but they vanish mysteriously after a while, though some of them occasionally pop up when the story decides it needs them.

This makes no sense and becomes a real concern, especially when the flick goes over the test at the end. We see and hear nothing about the other kids and the flick doesn’t care at all.

Ultimately, the movie overcomes these flaws pretty well just because it tosses in so much irreverence and humor, and the cast certainly helps. We find no master thespians in the crew and they don’t get much to work with from their thinly drawn characters, but they create fun personalities for the most part.

Some fare better than others, of course. Football jock Dave (Patrick Labyorteux) and pregnant Rhonda (Shawnee Smith) exist in almost an Afterschool SpecialL world of unusual love, and they don’t fit terribly well with the others.

When surfer Kim (Courtney Thorne-Smith) falls for Shoop, though, this blends pretty well and doesn’t become quite so mawkish. Happily, the movie shows that Shoop resolutely resists Kim’s attempts to seduce him, so it avoids the potential Ick Factor.

The film’s heart lies with the wackiness exhibited by horror movie enthusiast Chainsaw (Dean Cameron) and his sidekick Dave (Gary Riley). Clearly they exist as the flick’s prime supporting characters, and it uses them for good comic effect whenever possible.

This means the movie departs from reality to allow them to shine, but that seems acceptable. This isn’t meant to be a documentary, so I can forgive the flick’s digressions for comedic effect.

Summer School moves briskly and seems like a tight and fun film. Will it offer much amusement for folks who didn’t see it within its 1980s context? I don’t know, but nearly 40 years after its first release, I continue to enjoy it.

Summer School appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. After a rocky start, the image stabilized and looked very good.

Really, once we got a bit past the opening credits, the movie worked fine. Granted, plenty of films suffer from iffy credits so I wasn’t shocked at what I saw here, but I still worried these anomalies would persist.

Happily, they didn’t, and this meant a movie with appealing accuracy. A little softness still impacted the occasional wider shot, but most of the movie seemed well-defined.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural and print flaws remained absent.

With a bright summer Southern California setting, the movie’s palette appeared bright and bubbly. The Blu-ray reproduced these tones nicely, with a vivid set of hues.

Blacks appeared deep and dense, while low-light shots came across as smooth. This developed into a pleasing presentation.

The film’s remixed DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack added a little life to the material. Unsurprisingly, the mix featured a heavy emphasis on the forward channels. Music showed minor stereo separation, while effects displayed light breadth and delineation at times.

All of this remained fairly vague, as not much about the placement or imaging seemed distinctive. The track stayed with general atmosphere and little else. The surrounds seemed virtually silent throughout the flick and never played an active role.

Audio quality came across as decent. Speech appeared fairly distinct and natural, with no issues related to edginess or intelligibility.

Effects sounded clean and accurate, but they usually lacked much in the way of dynamics. Music was somewhat thin and lackluster as well, as the flick’s score and Eighties source tunes seemed concise but not much better.

I didn’t expect much from the audio of Summer School and I got what I anticipated. This became a fairly average remix.

How did the Blu-ray compare to those of the most recent DVD from 2007? The BD’s lossless audio showed a bit more kick than its lossy predecessor but both provided similar soundscapes.

As for visuals, the Blu-ray seemed better defined and more vivid than its DVD predecessor. Expect a nice picture upgrade here.

The Blu-ray repeats the 2007 DVD’s extras and adds a new one. We begin with an audio commentary from director Carl Reiner and actor Mark Harmon. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast and performances, locations, cut sequences and a mix of little anecdotes from the shoot.

That sounds like it should turn into a fun commentary. Unfortunately, this track remains pretty dull most of the time.

Reiner and Harmon seem like nice guys, but they don’t tell us much about the movie. They chat about parts that they like and praise a lot of things.

This means little actual information escapes, and we also come across a lot of dead air. The best notes come from Harmon, such as when he talks about how he re-broke his shoulder during the shoot.

However, even those nuggets appear infrequently. Don’t expect much from this disappointing commentary.

Two featurettes follow. Inside the Teachers’ Lounge runs 14 minutes, 15 seconds. We hear from Harmon, Reiner, screenwriter Jeff Franklin and actors Ken Olandt, Patrick Labyorteaux, Robin Thomas, Kirstie Alley (from 1986), and Dean Cameron.

We get info about the script and its development, how Reiner came onboard and his work on the set, casting, characters, and performances, and the movie’s legacy. “Lounge” doesn’t qualify as a great program, but it’s enjoyable.

t gives us a smattering of decent notes about the production and throws out enough good material to keep us involved. I’d like something more substantial, but this show will do.

Summer School Yearbook goes for 11 minutes, two seconds. The show involves Franklin, Cameron, Reiner, Olandt, Labyorteaux, and actors Kelly Minter (1986), Courtney Thorne-Smith (1986), Richard Steven Horvitz (1986), Fabiana Udenio (1986) and Shawnee Smith (1986).

This one looks at the high school kids, as we learn more about their casting and characters. It acts as a nice complement to “Lounge”, though again, it’s not a particularly full examination of the flick.

It’s also a shame that so few of the actors returned to discuss the movie. Nonetheless, it’s worth a look.

Exclusive to the Shout Blu-ray, we find an Interview with Actor Richard Steven Horvitz. This one spans 17 minutes, seven seconds.

Horvitz discusses his career as well as his memories of Summer School. While he provides a couple decent thoughts, most of the chat leans toward praise for all involved, so don’t expect much substance.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we end with a Photo Gallery that presents 21 images that mixes shots from the flick and publicity stills. They’re almost all dull.

While definitely a product of its era, Summer School nonetheless offers enough goofy fun to be a kick. The movie presents light and wacky fun to become a reasonably amusing piece. The Blu-ray offers very good picture with fairly average audio and extras. Fans of 1980s comedies should give Summer School a look.