A high-school gym teacher has big plans for the summer, but is forced to cancel them to teach a "bonehead" English class for misfit goof-off students. Fortunately, his unconventional brand of teaching fun field trips begins to connect with them, and even inspires ardor in some.
A comedy so listless, leisurely and unspirited that it was an act of the will for me to care about it, even while I was watching it.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
The moral is a sweet one: If you try, you never fail. The world is graded on a curve.
– Rita Kempley,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
Here are some of Summer School's favorite things: idiocy, illiteracy, irresponsibility, drunkenness, dumbness and debauchery. Piqued?
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
Mr. Harmon has an easygoing attractiveness, but neither he nor anyone else seems comfortable with the film's antic pace. And for all its busyness, this comedy has no real focus, ricocheting from character to character with wearying abandon.
– Janet Maslin,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
A bit bland compared to Reiner's Steve Martin comedies, but engagingly played.