If the publicity release can be believed, he worked an entire year undercover as a student to research teenage life. On the basis of what surfaces here - one stock phrase (the kids say Go for it] a lot) and a multitude of stock characters - Crowe might better have spent the time curled up with re-runs of Ozzie and Harriet. Give this intrepid researcher 12 months at General Motors and he might just discover the wheel.

Rick Groen

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Perfectly capturing the zeitgeist of American high school life in the '80s, complete with a Rubik's cube reference, the funny and occasionally harsh Fast Times, with all due apologies to John Hughes and Mickey Rooney, may be the greatest teen movie ever made (even though Cates was the only real teen).

Sean Penn's scenes are still so stunning...His Jeff Spicoli is an unabashed kick every second he is on the screen.

Brad Laidman

Film Threat