Directed by: Oz Scott
Produced by: Maj Canton & Irv Wilson
Written by: William A. Schwartz
Starring: Jackée, Alyssa Milano, Brian Bloom, Harvey Korman, Olivia d'Abo, Tina
Yothers & Edie McClurg
Music by: Mark Davis
Cinematography by: Bernd Heinl
Crash Course centers on a group of high schoolers in a driver’s education class;
many for the second or third time. The recently divorced teacher, super-passive
Larry Pearl, is on thin ice with the football fanatic principal, Principal
Paulson, who is being pressured by the district superintendent to raise driver’s
education completion rates or lose his coveted football program. With this in
mind, Principal Paulson and his assistant, with a secret desire for his job,
Abner Frasier, hire an outside driver’s education instructor with a very tough
reputation, Edna Savage, aka E.W. Savage, who quickly takes control of the
class.
The plot focuses mostly on the students and their interactions with their
teachers and each other. In the beginning, Rico is the loner with just a few
friends, Chadley is the bookish nerd with few friends who longs to be cool and
also longs to be a part of Vanessa’s life who is the young, friendly and
attractive girl who had to fake her mother’s signature on her driver’s education
permission slip. Kichi is the hip-hop Asian kid who often raps what he has to
say and constantly flirts with Maria, the rich foreign girl who thinks that the
right-of-way on the roadways always goes to (insert awesomely fake foreign
Latino accent) “my father’s limo”. Finally you have stereotypical football
meathead J.J., who needs to pass his English exam to keep his eligibility and
constantly asks out and gets rejected by Alice, the tomboy whose father owns
“Santini & Son” Concrete Company. Alice is portrayed as being the “son” her
father wanted.
As the movie progresses, the students’ relationships with their teacher, each
other and their driving abilities all begin to improve. Friendships are formed
in and out of the classroom. All the while Abner, Acting Principal while Paulson
is out of town, is spying on the entire bunch, teachers and students, and
constantly calling the superintendent with the purpose of smearing the
reputation of Principal Paulson in hopes of taking his job. In the meantime,
Edna, who was initially cool and somewhat hostile to Larry, begins to see him in
a new light. At the same time, Larry, who was initially a nervous and passive
man due mainly to stress involving his ex-wife and their divorce proceedings,
becomes more assertive and confident in himself, which Edna finds very
attractive.
Just as things start to look up for the class in school and at home, an untimely
accident involving Chad, Vanessa and the driver’s education car brings the
entire class closer together. Literally, each character, save for Abner whose
attempts to take over as principal are thwarted by the progression of all the
characters and the timely return of Principal Paulson, reaches a point in their
life where they seem happy with themselves, their relationships with their
friends and their relationships with their parents. Ultimately, all the kids
pass the course with flying colors, and Larry and Edna end up falling in love
and entering into a romantic relationship.