This movie has been on my A list for years. The plot is hilarious, and this being one of Matthew Broderick's earlier works, he is able to pull off a boyish version of cool that has not been well duplicated since. Jeffery Jones plays the unfortunate principal well, and he is supported well. The unrealistic happenings are well balanced by inevitable consequences which happen off screen, and eventually, the characters begin to grow up. I laughed a good deal.