Getting Wasted (1980) User Reviews

Predictable and restrained '60-era comedy

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 14 November 2015]

As one of the other commentators has mentioned, the first thing I thought of when I saw this film was POLICE ACADEMY. GETTING WASTED feels like a dry run for that '80s classic: it involves the rookie cadets at a military academy involving themselves in '60s counter culture and the usual sex and drugs of that decade.

It's also an unsurprisingly forgotten film, unsurprising because in reality it isn't very good. The jokes and humour are lame and predictable, and none of the characters are well defined or particularly likable. There are no big name actors or future stars here, just a mess of folk who never aspired to greatness.

I was also surprised at how restrained this film is. Comedies from this era are usually raunchy and padded out with copious nudity from the ladies, but there's none here (unless the version I saw was edited for TV). The drug jokes are tame and there's no real plotting or drama; just a series of loosely-linked situations playing out for supposed laughs that never transpire.

It's alright. Neither here nor there.

[chrismonkee · 5/10 · 8 March 2017]

I watched it when I was 18. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I hadn't gotten truly wasted up to that point. I went on to live a life, getting properly wasted as often as possible in my 20's.

I watched it again when I was about 35, I thought it was crap.

I was thinking about this film the other day, so it cannot be that bad. Made an impression on me at least.

I am 46 now. I no longer get wasted. I'd watch it again, for free, off the TV if it came round.

Be safe, kids. Keep it legal.

Getting Wasted wasted me money!

[lightkeeper-1 · 12 October 2005]

This 1980 title was part of the movies included in the "Toga Party" set put out by Brentwood. Having had viewed most of the others in the collection, I decided to watch this one because of Brian Kerwin (Torch Song Trilogy) and Cooper Huckabee (Funhouse). First person recognized is Ronnie Claire Edwards (The Walton's Corabeth Godsey) who plays Brad's (Kerwin) mother. Others in the cast is Stefan Furst and David Caruso but where the hell is he? He plays someone called Danny but I never could figure out which one he was. Anyway, it was an interesting flick with the exception of many blank spaces that looks like reel changes, so I decided to order the movie by itself, thinking there might be additional scenes that were deleted, and hopefully a better quality print. Guess what? Yes, the DVD I found was also released by Brentwood and is exactly the same - running time, blank spaces and C-grade quality. Had I known this copy was also from Brentwood, I would have saved money by not ordering. And for in-store sales promotion, they even put a more recent picture of David Caruso on the cover - hoping face and name recognition will entice people to buy.

You'd have to get wasted to enjoy this

[keepfallingover · 1/10 · 29 December 2005]

Saw this movie at 3am on the 'Bad movies' channel. It certainly deserves it's place there. Badly acted, boring, explotitive and just plain silly. Still, if you're drunk or on any naughty illegal substances you just might enjoy it.

Basically a load of boys at military school get involved in the swinging 60s drug culture. They get high on banana skins, meet girls in mini skirts, drink a lot and generally stick it to the man. There's not exactly a lot of plot, or dialogue. Just seems to be a random assortment of odd little scenes.

But hey in the end the guy meets a groovy chick and they go to san Francisco and probably live happily ever after in a camper van.

Poor title for well intentioned 1960s set picture

[mountaingoat100 · 7/10 · 13 July 2015]

Although there was several scenes of casual drug use here, the title seems off putting. The story concerns itself with teen Brian Kerwin being one last chance by going to a strict military school. Of course, a lot of his fellow students are more interested in goofing off than in discipline, setting up the comic scenes, including an elaborate scene of the boys trying to get high by smoking bananas. It's obvious influence is "Animal House"-it has Stephen Furst as the overweight loser-with added crudity and toilet humour, which are drawbacks. But where it scores is in the creation of the last 1960s. The treat of Vietnam is brought up a few times, and the general feeling of discontent is evident, personified in the hippie girl Kerwin befriends. She and her far our pals provide a tie-dyed contrast to the straitlaced academy. And then there's the music. Beginning with "For What It's Worth", every tune is a classic. Even the live band at a party have soundalikes for Grace Slick and Janis Joplin. Will a little more care, this could have been a winner. One clunker of a scene involves a cruel joke about a dog in a microwave, totally incongruous and unfunny. Apart from that, this has many worthy scenes, and a pretty good cast

Animal Academy

[Smile_U_SOB · 6/10 · 2 December 2007]

I don't consider this film anti-establishment since the establishment is 90% anti-war and has been since the seventies. In the sixties they were indeed the underdog but who would know that - since they're the only ones who make films and since we don't get any movies showing the other view, I can't see the logic of calling them underdogs or revolutionaries any longer. In my opinion, they are the establishment... but I digress. In the first scene as the main character is being driven by his mother (who looks the same age) down the street, he is looking at hippies as if he'd just woken up from a coma; as if the sixties "counter-culture" just happened to appear out of nowhere. The classic protest song "For What it's Worth" is playing, and at this point you know what you're in for... an agenda with party animals thrown in; or perhaps its a party animal movie with an agenda thrown in. Either way it's a horrid film but I enjoyed it profusely, because I adore bad films. The primary cast consists of Brian Kerwin, who was in one of my favorite sitcoms "Sheriff Lobo", Stephen Furst who was in one of my favorite comedies "Animal House" (which is also one of the best comedies ever), Ken Michaelson who was in my favorite hour long TV series, "The White Shadow", and Cooper Huckabee who co-starred in "Funhouse", a Tobe Hooper film which I considered much better than the one about the chainsaw. The plot is simple. A bunch of military academy teenagers (played by dudes in their late twenties) rebel against the teachers of the academy. That's it in a nutshell. Along the way you get to listen to great music from the likes of Buffalo Springfield, you get to watch a lady microwave a dog, guys smoking pot and banana peels, a hippie with a dead parrot on his shoulder, and a beautiful woman with a colorful painted van watching whales migrating and getting plenty hot. David Caruso, who is the main picture of the only available DVD, and who they try to trick us into thinking is the main character, has a two minute scene as a friend of Kerwin who helps him light tires and throw them onto the road. An exciting scene, especially since none of the tires rolled more than two feet after being pushed out of the moving truck. During the dog-microwave scene, when all hell breaks loose, there is a TV show playing the likes of Wally George, where a conservative villain chews out an enlightened hippie student, that seems more entertaining than the movie itself. If you like bad movies, this one is for you, but the DVD quality is poor, even worse than "Truck Stop Women", another favorite Z-film which I recently purchased. The most annoying thing though is the curse words are cut out. And I believe some other scenes from the original film were deleted as well. To me, this is more of a crime than bad quality. If it's cheap enough, buy it. It won't let you down unless you're expecting something worthwhile and meaningful: two ingredients I usually despise.

Enjoyable Vietnam-Era Comedy

[chrisdl_heath · 8/10 · 9 September 2010]

Despite a low budget, this no frills unpretentious made-for-TV movie I found to be very enjoyable. It's silly and mad-cap. I found it refreshing when I watched it on a late night satellite channel. It's a pity there aren't more like this.

The cast gel together well and the direction and editing are reasonably slick. It was produced at a time when made-for-TV movies were often better than what was at the box-office.

Don't listen to those who say it's a load of rubbish - it isn't! It captures the period nicely and there is a clever use of some of the best songs of the time. I'd like to get the DVD, but it doesn't do the movie justice by all accounts.

For What It's Worth

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 27 December 2022]

Plenty of wild-party-flicks came out in the wake of ANIMAL HOUSE, and GETTING WASTED -- trading college for a military academy -- co-stars Stephen Furst, literally the biggest geek in HOUSE and one of many pot-smokers here that are... well... GETTING WASTED (or more like pretty buzzed)...

And when new guy Brian Kerwin shows up in the bunkhouse... after being driven to the academy while Buffalo Springfield's counter-culture anthem For What It's Worth plays... he gets along with the local cadets instantly, especially cool guy Cooper Huckabee and second-string sidekick Ken Michelman...

What's lacking is tension, or anyone (or anything) to rebel against since the officers running the school are pointless, and during random excursions to the beach-dwelling exterior... the late-1970's pretending to be the late-1960's... there's one forced love interest, a couple of wacko acid-heads and a gang of 11th hour bullies...

Yet the good times still roll, even though -- backed by a jukebox of other classic-rock artists from Donovan and Canned Heat -- these kids are out to rebel anyway possible but... set during the generation when GETTING WASTED was commonplace... it's hard to tell the cadets from the hippies: or for their pivotal differences to matter.

Great fun, if you like daft films, I thought it was funny!

[Gorgeous-5 · 10/10 · 10 May 2003]

Great, if you like low budget cult like trash and the like. Generally adolescent humour. Check it out if you can. I've watched it a couple of times, taped off tv, and I would watch it again. I thought it was funny!

Coulda fooled me!

[Prince_of_Darknet · 10/10 · 2 August 2019]

First time I saw this movie was late one night on a pay cable station, sometime in the mid-'80s. For much of the running time I thought I was actually watching a lost film from the late '60s! It's that authentic. Only the appearance of Stephen Furst from "Animal House" gives way the era this film was made in. All the actors are excellent in their portrayals. The action mostly centers on a group of military school cadets. It was obviously modeled after "Animal House" right down to the presence of Stephen Furst in a lead role, only without the sharp writing of that film. Or the budget. But that also works in this film's favor, lending it an authenticity, that like I said, had me fooled for a while. Watch this with "Purple Haze" for a taste of what the era was like.

Entertaining "Anti-establishment" comedy

[Skragg · 8/10 · 15 August 2005]

I saw this one for the first and last time on late-night TV in 1987. This remark might be asking for it, but this movie was my answer to Animal House (which I never got too attached to). As far as I can remember it, a group of teenagers at a military academy ignore the faculty and the "gung ho" students, and make friends with a group of "hippies" (though they're more understated than the usual movie kind, which is why I use quotation marks). The one part I didn't like was a bizarre scene about a cat and a microwave (a famous urban legend, I think). Instead of being a dark comedy scene, it was a completely serious scene (as I remember), but EITHER WAY, it seemed pointless. (Although with an idea like that, serious is at least more ORIGINAL than comical, in spite of what people seem to think.) The main seriousness of the story had the characters dreading the idea of reaching draft age, especially with the other characters' influence. Another thing I do remember is that the "period" songs were worked into the movie in a pretty clever way, unlike countless period movies, which really POUR them on. (Like "Mellow Yellow" by Donovan during the banana smoking scene, which had some point to it.) The one character that really stays with me was one nicknamed "Choo-Choo", because his hobby was trying to sabotage the local train tracks. It was a kind of therapy, because he'd been a cadet himself, and he'd been tied to the tracks as a prank. I just saw in these listings that David Caruso was in it. I've never seen an entire "N.Y.P.D." or "C.S.I.", but hearing that is a whole other thing.