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High School High
Metascore
33 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 10
  3. Negative: 6 out of 10
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    67
    The Naked Gun writing team and actor-turned-director Hart Bochner do unto the stereotype of inner-city high schools what needs to be done to stereotyped inner-city high schools -- parody them silly -- in this high-flying, low-comedy production.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Stack
    50
    Stupid yet cogent, High School High is a rapid-fire gag machine that's dopey enough to get belly laughs and smart enough to earn a C-plus as engaging entertainment.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Andrew Hindes
    50
    Like a student who studies hard but just doesn't have the smarts, this joyless send-up of the "Dangerous Minds," "Stand and Deliver," idealistic-teacher-in-a-ghetto-school genre plods along earnestly with barely passing grades.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Van Gelder
    40
    There's not much sense to the plot. But the film makers' blunderbuss approach to humor, with visual and verbal jokes coming in profusion and scattering high and low, guarantees that just about every funnybone is bound to be hit, some more than once.
  5. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    38
    The movie makes two mistakes: (1) It isn't very funny, and (2) it makes the crucial error of taking its story seriously and angling for a happy ending.
  6. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    30
    Lovitz is occasionally amusing, especially in his creative attempts to get through to his pupils, although his style of slow-take humor is a grave mismatch for this kind of frenzied comedy.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    30
    The laugh lines are mostly crude and the prevalent slapstick is weak and uneventful.
  8. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Susan Wloszczyna
    25
    Face it. Parody comedies are no longer a laughing matter. [25 October 1996, p.5D]
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  9. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    25
    Isn't just bad, it's very bad.
  10. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    20
    Louise Fletcher is a walking sight gag as the evil principal, but just about every other gag falls flat and lies there, wheezing.
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