Julia’s Review (SPOILERS AHEAD):
When Elmer gave us this DVD, I was (no offense, Elmer) expecting this mid movie about the Ramones and how they shaped culture and music and whatever. Never in a million years would I have thought it would end with blowing up the school with the Ramones after a police standoff led by the principal of the school!
Everything in this movie was so silly and I could never guess it’s next move. The school starts out clearly with no reform system enforced at all. Kids are hooking up their record players to the megaphones speakers outside to play music, and everyone else rushes out of class to dance to it. There’s a kid who took over a bathroom and has created his own office, complete with a waiting list, secretary, and intercom system. It’s almost complete chaos.
A new principal comes in and honestly, God bless her. She is waiting for a miracle to set these kids straight. She is also clearly the antagonist and tripping on evil, but I see where she’s coming from seeing that these kids are in a Beatle-Mania trance with the Ramones. I also couldn’t tell if I loved or hated those goofy hall monitors. They did whatever she asked and were certainly tripping on their power.
The lead character, Riff Randell, was a hit with me. She was the Ramones’ biggest fan and the schools worst behavioral problem. I know what it’s like to fangirl and she was great representation. I will say the scene where she smoked weed in her room and then the Ramones were there and also smoking weed with her and in her bathroom (?) was a little strange. (Typically I am critical of fantasies/montages where people smoke weed because to me it seems so unrealistic!! If you are smoking that much weed to hallucinate the Ramones right in front of you then I think you had a little too much.)
Riff Randell also buys 100 Ramones tickets to give away for free at the school. HELLO? What a saint. Nobody paid her back. People barely said thank you. They flocked like ants to cotton candy and then ran. Where’s the Riff love? She spent 3 days waiting in line (and had her friend turn in notes like ‘My father died’ ‘My mother died’ ‘My goldfish died’ to excuse her- which every time this was brought up it was hilarious to me). And then later on in the movie, Riff gets her Ramones tickets taken away from her. And nobody is there to offer her the ones she bought them that they got for free? These people have the morality of a teaspoon.
Then the Ramones concert. The crux of the movie. There’s some other chick that’s ‘The Ramones’ Biggest Fan’ and gets invited backstage and then spends the entire concert trying to steal Riff Randell’s songs she wants to give to the Ramones. And why? What do you gain from that? You’re already backstage. That girl was pissing me off. Riff was also first in line to buy tickets for three days and then this girl cut her and acted stupid. I wanted to swing on her bad. But besides that, the concert goes well. Joey Ramone was so tall and lanky it was honestly a little Slenderman-esque and quite frightening. I don’t see what Riff sees in him.
But apparently, Riff and Joey Ramone hit it off so much that he becomes an honorary student at their school, and then the kids take over the entire school. They throw the hall monitors off the second story through a window in a laundry basket in front of the police. The parents and police and the principal all band together to burn all the Ramones and similar sounding vinyl that they could find. The kids ‘surrender’ and the final scene is the Ramones playing a song while the school blows up and burns behind a gigantic dance party of students. My jaw dropped.
There’s more to mention, but I’ll let Christian do that. All in all, I gave this a ★★★½/★★★★★.
Christian’s Review:
I have a lot of the same thoughts and opinions as Julia about this fabulous film. Elmer what a gem you have recommended.
The soundtrack was so so so good! It made me want to get up and dance, I was singing along the whole time.
This movie was so outrageous and silly. The gags had me laughing on the floor like the lab rat for instance. I loved the characters that we had too.
Riff Randell was a baddie with a dream. And that dream was to meet the Ramones and have a relationship with the terrifying Joey Ramone.
The daydream sequence in the bedroom with Riff and the Ramones was so out-of-pocket and wild. Julia and I looked at each other and had so many questions.
The Principal was also making me chuckle quite a bit. She was attempting to run a tight ship but was ultimately defeated by the power of rock n roll.
The whole ending sequence had me speechless. It was camp overload. The Ramones come to the school and wreak absolute havoc. The film with Riff and her friends planting a bomb in the school and bowing that building up. Right in front of the principal and law enforcement.
The Ramones were such awkward actors. You can tell they have never been in front of a camera before. Joey is wearing the tightest pants he could possibly find and uncomfortably going through the motions.
I absolutely loved how outlandish everything was. It was so stupid in the best way possible.
I hated the hall monitor characters. They were so creepy and weird whenever they were on screen. Like why were they living at that school? Go home!
One of my favorite aspects of the film that Julia mentioned was how Riff bought 100 tickets to the Ramones concert and gave them all away for free. Girl! at least sell them, make a profit.
At the end of the day this was such a fun watch. It is so unserious and silly. Watching it with friends was the absolute best way to experience this film. Thank you again Elmer for the wonderful recommendation!
I gave this a ★★★/★★★★★
