Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.0

Ski School Blu-ray Movie Review

The agony of defeat.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 26, 2015

If you’re a middle aged man between the ages of, say, 37 to 44, and still possessed of a relatively good memory, chances are you may have had a prurient interest in Ski School when it was released way back in January of 1991. Back then, you would have been a hormonal teenager and perhaps prone to cheering when just a few seconds into this pretty tired and lame “comedy,” the first of several attractive young women simply peels off her blouse and offers a rather generous view of her bosom. Not content with “mere” full frontal nudity, Ski School also indulges in a couple of pseudo-soft core porn scenes depicting sex between a motley crew of skiers and incredibly nubile women who, in best male fantasy fashion, are only too happy to hop into bed with any nerd who happens to be walking by. Relentlessly unfunny while also equally relentlessly noisy and frenetic, Ski School may challenge even the rose colored memories of now middle aged guys who may want to check out one of their illicit pleasures from their younger days.

Basically Ski School appropriates the loser-outcast anarchist chic of Animal House and grafts it onto a more salacious, Porky's inspired “naughtiness” as it details the exploits of a second string bunch of skiers who band together to keep a bunch of scheming upper crust twits from taking over their preferred mountain resort. There’s the same sort of class consciousness that informs part of Animal House, with rich and blonde Reid Janssens (Mark Thomas Miller) serving as the WASP-y nemesis to a bunch of odd ducks in so- called Section 8, the supposed lowest echelon of ski school guys who tend to look, well, a little more “ethnic” than the almost Aryan appearing Reid.

Dave Marshak (Dean Cameron) is the de facto leader of Section 8, but soon enough Reid has exiled new “student” John E. Roland (Tom Breznahan) to the supposed outcast group, not suspecting that John actually has ace skiing skills. Meanwhile pug nosed Ed Young (Patrick Laboryteaux) is weirdly irresistible to the bevy of buxom young lasses hanging around the school, leading to supposed hilarious hijinks of a sexual nature.

In fact all of these guys seem uncharacteristically capable of bedding nubile young women, something that no doubt appealed to teenaged geeks back in the day who may have caught this film and then come to the conclusion that they might have a shot with a pretty young thing if these losers were doing so well. Ski School spends a lot of time milking the prurient aspects of the plot, so much so that the whole ski competition element sometimes takes a back seat. Despite a huge conflict between Section 8 and Reid which is set up rather meticulously (or at least as meticulously as a film of this ilk tends to be able to do), the climax (ski wise) of the film is weirdly truncated, as if some interstitial material was left on the cutting room floor.

There’s nothing even remotely surprising about Ski School’s plot arc, something that wouldn’t be that much of a problem if the film were only funnier. There’s barely a giggle to be had in this film, despite a game and attractive cast and the same general level of snark that informs other teen comedies. The outcasts of course end up triumphing, winning not just the ski competition but (of course) girls, girls, girls.

It’s notable that Ski School, unlike other comedies of this era, doesn’t have a “standout” star in the making in its cast. A rather informative website by leading man Dean Cameron is a treasure trove of information about what acting in Hollywood is really like. Suffice it to say fantasies like those on display in Ski School are just that: fantasies. Even nice guys (like Cameron) rarely walk off with the brass ring and the (naked) girl in real life.

Ski School Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ski School is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This low budget comedy probably never looked great (I must confess I never caught Ski School during its theatrical exhibition), and that tendency continues with this acceptable if uninspiring high definition presentation. Elements have probably above average amounts of age related wear and tear, with quite a bit of dirt, flecks and white specks showing up. Grain is somewhat uneven at times (not necessarily due to the use of stock footage), though overall resolves fairly naturally. Colors have faded a bit, lending a ruddy aspect to flesh tones, though some of the brightest primaries still pop with baseline levels of vividness. Detail and fine detail are modest at best, though some close-ups can reveal decent elements like the pill on ski sweaters and the like. Still, this is generally a pretty soft looking presentation, one that perhaps was sourced from an older master. In true Olive fashion, this offers a transfer with no signs of any restoration but no overt signs of excessive digital intrusion.

Ski School Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ski School features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 which springs most forcefully to life during party scenes (which are ubiquitous) where loud music is typically playing. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented and there are no issues with damage or prioritization.

Ski School Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 1:47)

Ski School Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Flat, predictable and (worst of all) not very funny, Ski School can't quite shake the feeling that it's revisiting a number of hoary clichés that were handled more effectively in films like Animal House. (In fairness, I should state the film, kind of like Animal House, evidently supplied jobs for my friends here in Portland who work in the film industry, as some of the location work was done up at Mt. Hood. The credits list a Mike Lookinland, one assumes of Brady Bunch fame, as a camera operator, which perhaps ties in to Dean Cameron's attitude about acting as a career choice.) The cast is appealing enough, but the film is too obviously skewed toward teenaged males, a demographic which is typically more than happy to overlook things like plot mechanics and character development if there are enough naked babes dotting the premises. Fans of the film will probably be reasonably well pleased with the technical merits here, though the video is unadorned and pretty ragged looking at times.