''How I Got Into College'' is a 1989 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Savage Steve Holland Savage Steve Holland (born April 29, 1958) is an American writer, cartoonist, producer, voice actor, animator, and film director who wrote and directed the films '' Better Off Dead'' (1985) and ''One Crazy Summer'' (1986), starring John Cusack. ...

, starring Anthony Edwards, Corey Parker, and

Lara Flynn Boyle Lara Flynn Boyle (born March 24, 1970) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Donna Hayward in the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991). After portraying Stacy in Penelope Spheeris's comedy ''Wayne's World'' (1992), ...

and produced & released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. This is the film debut of eventual

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in ''R ...

, who would become best known as the voice of

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

Plot

The story follows a girl named Jessica (

) and her attempt to get into Ramsey College, a small college in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and Marlon ( Corey Parker), a boy who tries to get into Ramsey to pursue Jessica, whom he is in love with.

Cast

* Corey Parker as Marlon Browne *

as Jessica Kailo * Anthony Edwards as Kip Hammett *

Finn Carter Elizabeth Fearn "Finn" Carter is an American former actress. She is best known for her role in the 1990 film '' Tremors'', starring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. Early life Carter was born in Greenville, Mississippi (U.S.). She is the daughter of ...

as Nina Sachie *

Charles Rocket Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by stage names Charlie Hamburger, Charlie Kennedy and Charles Rocket, was an American actor, comedian, musician, and television news reporter. He was a cast member on ''Saturda ...

as Leo Whitman * Christopher Rydell as Oliver *

Brian Doyle-Murray Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), known professionally by his stage name as Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, voice-actor and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several movies, i ...

as Coach Evans *

O-Lan Jones O-Lan Jones (born May 23, 1950) is an American actress, composer, and theater producer. She played religious fanatic Esmeralda in ''Edward Scissorhands''. Early and personal life Jones was born in Los Angeles, California. Her first name comes ...

as Sall O'Connor *

Tichina Arnold Tichina Rolanda Arnold (; born June 28, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a child actor, appearing in supporting roles in ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986) and '' How I Got into College'' (1989) before being cast a ...

as Vera Cook *

Bruce Wagner Bruce Alan Wagner (born March 22, 1954) is an American novelist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles known for his apocalyptic yet ultimately spiritual view of humanity as seen through the lens of the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood entertainm ...

as "A" *

as "B" *

Bill Raymond William Joseph Raymond (born September 9, 1938) is an American actor who has appeared in film, television, theater and radio drama since the 1960s. Career He is featured in the second and fifth seasons of the HBO drama ''The Wire'' as "The Gree ...

as Flutter * Philip Baker Hall as Dean Patterson *

Nicolas Coster Nicolas Dwynn Coster (born December 3, 1933) is a British-American actor, most known for his work in daytime drama and as a character actor on nighttime television series, such as ''Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the A ...

as Dr. Phillip Jellinak Sr. *

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tri ...

as Bill Browne *

Phil Hartman Philip Edward Hartman (; September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and his family moved to the United States w ...

as Bennedict *

Nora Dunn Nora Dunn (born April 29, 1952) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch variety TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990, Dr. Reynolds in ''The Nanny'' (1998-1999), and Muriel in ''Home Economics' ...

as Francine Bauer *

Duane Davis Duane Davis is an American actor who has been in such films as '' Under Siege'', '' The Program'', ''Ghosts of Mars'', and ''Paparazzi''. Early life Davis was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the son of NFL Hall of Fame defensive end Willie ...

as Ronny "Sure Hands" Rawlson *

Diane Franklin Diane Franklin is an American actress, producer, and model. Education Franklin attended New York University for one year in 1981–1982 before dropping out to become a professional actress. She continued her education thirty years later when ...

as Sharon Browne *

Robert Ridgely Robert Ridgely (December 24, 1931 – February 8, 1997) was an American actor, known for both on-camera roles and extensive voice-over work. Biography Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, Ridgely worked as a cabaret entertainer.Staff"Robert Ridgely, 65 ...

as George Kailo *

Micole Mercurio Micole Diana Mercurio (March 10, 1938 – January 19, 2016) was an American film and television actress and artist. Her film credits included the roles of Rosemary Szabo in ''Flashdance'' in 1983, Mrs. Kelly in ''Gleaming the Cube'' in 1989, M ...

as Betty Kailo * Bill Henderson as Detroit High School Coach *

Richard Steven Horvitz Richard Steven Horvitz (born July 29, 1966) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games. His voice credits include the original Alpha 5 on ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'', ''Power Rangers Zeo'' an ...

as Young Energizer *

Curtis Armstrong Curtis Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor and singer best known for playing the role of Booger in the ''Revenge of the Nerds'' movies, Herbert Viola on the TV series ''Moonlighting'', Miles Dalby in the film '' Risky Busines ...

as Arcadia Bible Academy Recruiter *

Taylor Negron Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron (August 1, 1957 – January 10, 2015) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Milo in the 1991 buddy cop action comedy film ''The Last Boy Scout''. Early life Negron was born in Glendale, C ...

as Mailman

Production

Jan Eliasberg Jan Pringle Eliasberg (born January 6, 1954) is an American film, theatre, and television director and writer. Her debut novel, ''Hannah's War'', was published by Little, Brown in 2020 and has sold 50,000 copies to date. ''Hannah's War'' has been ...

started directing but was fired five days into filming and replaced with

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

has rated it a 38%

Box office

The film was a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

, making just $651,850 in its opening weekend from 743 theaters for an average of $877 per venue. It ended its run with only $1,642,239 domestically.

Production notes

Parts of the film usedin

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

, as Ramsey College.

References

External links

* * * * {{Savage Steve Holland 1989 films 1989 romantic comedy films 20th Century Fox films American romantic comedy films American coming-of-age comedy films Films shot in California Films directed by Savage Steve Holland 1980s English-language films 1980s American films