The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 25

1 Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 29. 1982 B-5l This 'Class Reunion' Is Worth Skipping By ED BLANK Iris (Marya Small) and Milt the The rub is the film's determination to be the rude and outrageous comedy advertised. Rude is easy. Boring, but easy.

Outrageousncss became harder after "(National Lampoon's) Animal House" and its imitations battered taste into oblivion. You have to draw a line before you can go beyond one. None exists in movies like "Class Reunion," so its attempts to be provocative look silly. That's where poor proportioning applies. All comedy, from Ben Blue and Mae West to Woody Allen and Mel Brooks, must maintain a handshaking relationship with reality.

Comedy is an exaggeration, an extension, an out-of-sync expression of a known quantity, a sudden left turn from the right lane. It stretches reality but must reestablish what it snaps. Even in his unsubtle "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein," Brooks dives from his bedrock but never swims far from it. Because his handshake is firm, his peculiar perception is comical. A custard pie isn't funny unless it smacks a clean face; a banana peel must be unexpected.

"Class Reunion" is all banana peels after awhile. It heaps impossibilities onto incongruities until it stops making sense. The characters are down, but the banana peels pile up beside them. Pockets of characters wander around a filthy basement and darkened rooms looking for the killer long after we guess who he is and where he isn't. Characters with a1 single attribute haven't anything to do but express themselves in the same mode, but bigger, thereafter.

Michael Miller directed from John Hughes's script. What they have is a "Saturday Night Live" sketch that doesn't know when to stop and has to keep going to justify distribution as a feature film. (Rated (or language, crude behavior and allusions to incest.) Press Drama Editor Most of the comedies directed squarely at teen-agers are crude, rude and dumb. Like "Midnight Madness," "Hollywood Knights" and "Fast Times at Ridgerhont High," they're too poorly conceived and developed to work at any level. Even making allowances for their finding and satisfying an they fail in a consistent way even their admirers might notice.

"(National Lampoon's) Class Reunion," opening today on six screens, typifies their failings. Although its first half is moderately amusing, a comparative plus, "Class Reunion" consistently loses its sense of proportion. The class of 72 of Lizzie Borden High School cut above the is having its 10-year reunion. Hosted by pompous class officers Bob Spinnaker (Gerrit Graham) and Bunny (Miriam Flynn), the group includes gross Hubert (Stephen Furst, playing to type again), blind raoonie (aieve Tracy). The evening unfolds, or tears up, as a spoof.

A lunatic, breathing heavily through the bag over his head, scampers around with thin, hairy legs and saddle shoes picking off (or trying to) the frolicking airheads. It could be funny, and it is for awhile if you can get past its dubious taste: Iris's seeing-eye dog hides from her; an alumnus named Gary Nash (Fred McCarrcn) is recognized by no one he verbally embraces; food is treated as mush; as a cigarette dangles from the lips of a cafeteria-line hag obviously modeled on "Archie's" Miss Haggley, ashes fall on the entrees. "Are you a religious man?" says one alumnus. "Certainly not. I'm an Episcopalian." A Iess-than-eager scductee tells her suitor, "Stop breathing on me.

I think we ought to go back and die with the others." Al Pt thill, i "(Notional Lampoon's) Class Reunion" is spoof. 3TC BETTE MIDLER Hiuntint Htlloween Hippeninft ibatri the WJT 14th SMASH WEEK ISN'T IT TIME TO SEE WHAT 22 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE BEEN RAVING ABOUT? Li GATEWAYCLIPPER FLEET "THE SLEEPER OF 1082 fast TIMES' IS A BIG AND PLEASANT SURPRISE HAS A CHARM THAT'S HARD TO RESIST." -NEWSWEEK rj AT RIDGEKOMT HICH irl fS "Hey Bodi i Let'i Party" I 11-anf him i A Dincinj CoJlume Contests Prizes Toniht-Sil 1) P.M. to 2 4.M.-J5.00 perion Neil Fri. Corbin Hmner (SS.OO person) PAWVOT' Sundiy illernoon Rhythm I Bluet Cruiu Stilt 1:30 to 5.30 P.M. $6.00 person nmmiM Tin United Artist! Boolt or comfortably heatod glatt enclosed.

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Mr AdoW andevpryone rlv in th Urge catl are eicrllent Uneipecttdly nth thould be enjoyed for tht sKeer. joyous efrooiry cir T-r W3 i Fiji tUs ps Imi'iU iff A 'LOLA' MUST BE SEEN! I More intuitive and more pragma tic than much of v- AiV -OFFICEJR AJYDA GEiYTLEMAiV Futbmder't previous work I was somewhat surprised by the film, and yet it helped me understand more clearly the distinctive qualities of his art. tH MlAUlUMN in JiUMiKMlllimll ifs II IK f- flMilin.i- M'ih tn HI i ti in SD sTIWVKI MNIIN II fAM Hint tnt I Al I FOR A GREAT SELECTION OF COSTUMES AT GREAT PRICES Costume Rentals nd Sales Thousands stoi Accessories Hits. Wigs, etc Theatrical Makeup Masks Galore Slar WarsCrwactr-rs Rparjn Leotards. Tights CINEMA WORLD RT.

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