THE FILM:

I vaguely remember watching Canadian comedy Ski School on cable when I was a kid. It is definitely not a good movie, and came several years too late to ride the teen sex comedy wave of the 1980s. A couple of rich pricks take over a ski resort and plot to sell it to a corporate buyer, but a misfit team of burnouts, led by Dean Cameron, plans to send them home empty handed. There is neither enough comedy nor enough female nudity on display here to make much of an impression, and, while Ski School was barely passable late-night entertainment at twelve years old, it fails to entertain at twenty-eight.

Reid Janssens (Mark Thomas Miller) is the total douche who runs the Whistler Mountain ski school, and sticks Dave Marshak (Cameron) in "Section 8," which is reserved for the worst competitive skiers. Janssens underestimates newcomer John E. Roland (Tom Bresnahan), who turns out to be a hell of a skier. John also starts bagging all of the ladies, which further infuriates Reid. He retaliates by DQ'ing Section 8 from the competition, but the guys decide to crash the party, Animal House style, and take back the mountain.

What makes a movie like Ski School worth watching? It is not the acting or quality of the story, that's for sure. This one's just not that funny. Cameron has a couple of zingers, but the constant hamming is more grating than hilarious. There is a clever sequence where Dave and resort hottie Lori (Darlene Vogel) trick Reid and his male buddy into joining each other in bed, but most of the pranks fall flat.

Bresnahan is a problem, too, as his character never feels like part of the team. Dave and his fellow slackers bond, but Bresnahan feels like an outsider who just happens to ski well. I know there are Cameron fans out there, both for Ski School and Summer School, so I suspect they will be happy to have Ski School on Blu-ray. Everyone else can probably skip this one.

THE BLU-RAY:

PICTURE:

The 1.85:1/1080p/AVC-encoded image is not particularly impressive. There is some dirt and debris on the print, and fine-object detail is underwhelming. This looks like a crappy, low-budget comedy shot in 1990. Skin tones are a little hot, and black levels are not particularly deep. This is obviously an old master, so there is some edge enhancement and noise reduction to see.

SOUND:

The 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is serviceable, with clear dialogue and some decent depth for the score and effects. No alternate dubs or subs are available.

EXTRAS:

Just the Theatrical Trailer (1:46/SD).

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Ski School is an ‘80s teen sex comedy released in 1990, and it certainly isn't going down as a particularly memorable entry for the genre. Dean Cameron is funny-ish, but the movie is not, particularly. Skip It.

William lives in Burlington, North Carolina, and looks forward to a Friday-afternoon matinee.