Ski School (1991)

Ski School is a third-rate Animal House, where the fun-loving party animals are pitted against the humorless preppy gang. That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about this venture. I wonder which group is going to win out in the end? If movies have taught me anything, then my guess is on the preppies. It’s the type of movie you would find on USA Network’s Up All Night programming block at two in the morning as you are drifting off into your dream state, where all your fantasies of becoming a slacker ski instructor can vividly come to life. It contains the all the comedic tropes and fashion sensibilities of a raunchy (even though it feels decidedly un-raunchy) film that would have been made in 1986, even though it wasn’t released until 1991. Seeing how it aims to be low-rate comedy, it comes packaged complete with your usual checklist of necessary details--sex, parties, alcohol, practical jokes, the “new guy”, the romantic interest, one-line zingers, a mysterious entrepreneur that could double as a prostitute, a skiing competition for the ownership of the mountain—you know, everything you could possibly want from any fun time! In its quest for verisimilitude, however, some questions still linger—namely, if the group of party animals are so lazy, how come they not only possess uncanny video editing skills (as seen in the scene where they edit the video of the two of the prepsters about to get into bed together—hilarity ensues!), but they also seem to have an unlimited supply of cash and resources at their disposal (note the endless cases of beer, the funds to host party after party of the entire mountain. Where is the riveting documentary on ski school I was promised?

It’s pretty obvious the filmmakers and actors were having fun with the material, no matter how flat the jokes land or how broad the characters are painted. It’s not aiming to be high art by any means, but it at least could have contained some (any) humorous scenes. Viewed in a time capsule, the movie does provide an interesting purgatory between the sensibilities of the 80s low-brow comedy with the existential phenomenon of Gen-X culture on the horizon (except for the fact that Richard Linklater’s breakthrough film Slacker came out the same year, so maybe Ski School was already dead on arrival). It was also most likely one of the direct influences for Hot Tub Time Machine. You probably already know exactly what type of movie this is. However, if you still aren’t quite sure yet, here’s a test—this Ferris Bueller-esque nugget of wisdom, spoken by the lovable Dave Marshak (Dean Cameron) in a pep talk, sums up everything about Ski School’s sensibility: “It’s not how far you go, it’s how go you far.” If you just looked at that with a dead-eyed stare, then it’s probably the same way you’ll feel about this movie. At least it didn't go as far as Birdemic.

Rating: ½ star (out of 5)