Class Act
- this article is about the 1992 film. For other uses see Class Act (disambiguation)
| Class Act | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Randall Miller |
| Produced by | Jean Higgins Joe Wizan Maynell Thomas Suzanne de Passe Todd Black |
| Written by | Cynthia Friedlob John Semper Michael Swerdlick Richard Brenne Wayne Allan Rice |
| Starring | Christopher "Kid" Reid Christopher "Play" Martin Alysia Rogers Doug E. Doug Karyn Parsons Lamont Johnson |
| Music by | Vassal Benford |
| Cinematography | Francis Kenny |
| Editing by | John F. Burnett Richard Leeman |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 5, 1992 |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $13,272,113[1] |
Class Act is a 1992 comedy film, directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, the screenplay is by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a story by Michael Swerdlick, Richard Brenne and Wayne Allan Rice. Filmed at Van Nuys High School in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, it is the third of four films starring Kid 'n Play, following House Party (1990) and House Party 2 (1991), and preceding House Party 3 (1994).
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[edit] Characters and story
Genius high school student Duncan Pinderhughes (Christopher "Kid" Reid) is getting ready for graduation, but is somewhat disheartened to find out that, despite his perfect SAT score and 4.0 GPA, prestigious Hafford University (parody of Harvard University) will not admit him unless he can pass phys. ed. Ex-convict Michael "Blade" Brown (Christopher "Play" Martin) is released from jail, and told by his parole officer (Rick Ducommun) that the condition of his release is satisfactory graduation from high school. A mishap results in their pictures being swapped on their permanent school records. In effect, Blade is surprised to find out that he is being placed in Gifted classes, while Duncan is shocked to be placed in minimal classes with substandard conditions and miscreants for classmates.
Blade realizes this and sees Duncan as his ticket permanently out of jail, since Duncan could pass his classes with ease. He transforms Duncan into a version of himself with dreadlocks, and does his best to teach Duncan how to act and talk like a gangsta. Having no grasp of hip hop culture, Duncan's parents begin to worry about their son's new "friend"; his father especially, beginning to suspect Duncan is gay.
Blade manages to smooth-talk his way through his advanced classes, even successfully executing a dissertation on sexual intercourse (one of his favorite subjects). Duncan ends up running into a high school thug named Wedge (Lamont Johnson), and gets in trouble, but also ends up discovering an uncanny ability to kick field goals, and joins the school's football team. Both Blade and Duncan end up with girlfriends that the other would have, with Blade smooth-talking the intelligent but excitement-seeking Ellen (Karyn Parsons) and Duncan being pursued by the wild Damita (Alysia Rogers).
Blade ends up getting in trouble with a drug lord (Thomas Mikal Ford) that he worked with before his incarceration, and the movie climaxes in a chase involving Blade, Duncan, their girlfriends and one of Blade's buddies. When the girlfriends realize that their men are swapped, both guys end up dumped. Still, Duncan manages to knock out Wedge, while Blade handles the drug lord, but all end up in jail.
After the mix-up is corrected, Blade, Duncan and company are all set free. In an anti-climax, Duncan and Blade both enter a Knowledge bowl in an effort to get Blade back with Ellen. They succeed when Blade answers a tiebreaker question to win the competition, recalling a choice tidbit Ellen once told him. Afterward, both couples end up together. In a final scene, Duncan's dad finds out the hard way that Duncan is definitely not gay by catching him and Damita having sex in Duncan's bedroom.
Walking in each other's shoes dramatically changed the lives of both Duncan and Blade. In the epilogue, the audience learns that Blade graduated from high school and attended Hafford (even wearing preppy attire), while Duncan attended Stanford on a football scholarship.
[edit] Production
Even Though the writing credits for Class Act give no credit to Last Dragon Star Leo O'brien, he created the original Class Act script over the course of a few summers at Berry Gordys house. Berry wrote a few scenes in movie as well.[citation needed]
[edit] Cast
- Christopher "Kid" Reid — Duncan Pinderhughes
- Christopher "Play" Martin — Michael "Blade" Brown
- Karyn Parsons — Ellen
- Rick Ducommun — Parole Officer Reichert
- Alysia Rogers — Damita
- Andre Rosey Brown — Jail Guard
- David Basulto — Go-Go
- Doug E. Doug — Popsicle
- George Alvarez — Tommy
- Lamont Johnson — Wedge
- Loretta Devine — Ms. Brown
- Mariann Aalda — Mrs. Pinderhughes
- Meshach Taylor — Mr. Pinderhughes
- Michael Whaley — Tyrone
- Patricia Fraser — Mrs. Ipswitch
- Pauly Shore — Julian Thomas (uncredited)
- Raye Birk — Principal Kratz
- Reginald Ballard — Fruity
- Simply Marvalous — Ms. Jackson
- Thomas Mikal Ford — Mink
Cameo appearances by:
- Lance Crouther — Bad Dude #1
- Rhea Perlman — Ms. Simpson
- Sam McMurray — Skip Wankman
- Baldwin C. Sykes — Bad Dude #2
[edit] DVD release
The film was made available on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection on May 18, 2010.[2] Many fans of the movie created an online petition for a DVD release.
The film was released on pan-and-scan VHS and laserdisc in 1992.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Class Act at AllRovi
- Class Act at the Internet Movie Database
- Class Act at Rotten Tomatoes
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