Mr. Savage Steve Holland’s Opus.
Ah, How I Got Into College (1989) – a little slice of late-80s life that somehow manages to bottle teenage anxiety, awkward romance, and the crushing spectre of societal expectations into a brisk 86 minutes. Directed by THE Savage Steve Holland (Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer), it’s got his patented blend of surreal humour and heartfelt sincerity. Think Ferris Bueller on a caffeine crash, but instead of skipping school, everyone’s sweating over SATs and college entries.
At its core, this is a film about the yuppie rat race in its larval stage. It’s not just about getting into college – it’s about how you measure up, even when you’re not entirely sure what you’re being measured against. Corey Parker and Lara Flynn Boyle are just two kids trying to figure out who they are while being told they need to have it all figured out yesterday. It’s funny, sure, but the humour has an undercurrent of panic that feels all too familiar if you’re the type to sweat the big decisions. Which I am.
Phil Hartman and Nora Dunn show up to inject some peak SNL energy, and Anthony Edwards is hilariously cast as a smarmy admissions officer who represents every gatekeeper you’ve ever loathed.
Tragically, How I Got Into College didn’t make a splash at the box office, but it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be a smash hit. It’s the movie equivalent of a scrappy C+ student pulling off an A- in the final hour – not perfect, but it gets extra credit for showing the work.