Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Not a bad movie but not a good one either. It's one of those 80's movies you have to a least see once in your lifetime.Arliss Howard as Nick Dunbar: The 34yr old playing a 24yr undercover cop playing an 18yr. OK. While Howard was somewhat young enough to somewhat get away with it, I still felt he was miscast somewhat. In some scenes he kinda fit in but in others, you could tell his age and it was more embarrassing than funny. But still, he did an earnest performance.Suzy Amis as Robin Torrence: Now she I believed did a great job and was quite believable as the young teacher smitten by the Nick Dunbar character. She really looked quite nice in this type of role.George Wendt as Chet Butler: Poor Wendt, he at 1st came on quite nicely as a somewhat loony teacher but by the end it was quite ridiculous for me to accept him as a invincible, crazy killer who even shoots dogs! Not funny at all. I quite expected him to just have a heart-attack with all that running around after Howard's Dunbar. Complete miscast here.Diane Ladd as Jane Melway: Now she was quite believable in her role. (At 1st I thought she was Dee Wallace!) Ladd did a great job in her little role.Seymour Cassel as Ed Malmburg: Was OK at best. Playing Dunbar's partner and role-playing as the dad was OK. I wish Collidge would have had a little more interplay with Cassel and Howard doing the "father & son" thing. There could have been some more potential comedy there.Abe Vigoda as Mr. Wiseman: Was a complete miscast. What a shame to have the late Vigoda in a thankless role in which all he had to do was walk around oblivious to the fact fact that everyday some student was putting a different note pinned to his back and he of course would not notice and walk around all day like a idiot. Why would Vigoda take such a thankless role is beyond me.Robert Stack as Mr. Gardner: Stack as the principle was OK at best but still a misfire and not funny at all. While it;s always great to see the late great Stack in a role out of the Untouchable mold, he just is too intense for a comedy and to me was just miscast in a throwaway role like Vigoda.Alexandra Powers as Dawn-Marie Zeffer: The beautiful Powers was very well cast as the cheerleader type. Her little scene where she is trying to seduce Howard's Dunbar was really good. I could see Howard having a hard time resisting this sexy little charmer but he had to have it under control for a lot of reasons. She's 17, he's 24 playing an 18yr old. I like at the end when she realizes he's a cop and she is still like saying in a devilish sexy way, "So, how old are you anyways?" What a shame this very cute actress gave up acting. She hasn't done anything since 2001! I wonder what she is doing now...Peter Dobson as Kyle Kerns: Great casting here. Dobson as a bully on Dunbar's case was right on. Very believable and a good job done by Dobson.Harry Shearer as Simon Feck: Complete miscast here for the great Shearer. Just like Vigoda, a throw-away role that any extra could have done. Don't understand why these greats would take such meaningless bit role role that are just basically cameos.Reginald VelJohnson as Captain Graff: Another meaningless cameo bit in which VelJohnson was just wasted. A thankless throwaway role also.Max Perlich as Carter: Great casting here. A very believable Perlich as a fellow student who befriends Dunbar. Good job by Perlich.All in all, Coolidge has done better (Valley Girl) but OK in some respect. Great ending song, "YOU CAN COUNT ON ME",written and performed by Billy Sherwood.

Arliss Howard (looking at home) stars in this enjoyably offbeat mystery comedy, which he plays a cop who goes undercover at his brother's high school when he's accused of stabbing a teacher. Because how young he looks no one believes he's a cop, so why not go back to school to figure who committed the murder and helping is his partner (a terrific Seymour Cassel) who pretends to be his father. But there's no escaping the daily grind of high school.Kind of surprised this is not more well known, bestowing an excellent ensemble cast (George Wendt, Diana Ladd, Suzy Amis, Larry Pine and Robert Stack) giving decent performances by presenting an odd assortment of characters and sharing great chemistry (especially Howard and Cassel). The story moves between trying to connect the dots throwing out possible leads and red herrings (in predictably daft way), while also adjusting to school life. These are the usual things (bullying, popularity and crushes), but it remains charming, authentically atmospheric and lightly humorous. There's a certain mock seriousness attitude abound and there's neat running gag involving amusing quips over the school PA system and a memorable little poetry reading to explain the word metaphor. It has snappy energy and frequent humour, while low-key it does balance out nicely against its murder mystery angle.Pleasing under-the-radar late 80s comedy.

This a movie that stuck with me, with the odd line of dialogue, or the iconographic facial expression popping into my head unsolicited for years later. The humour is constant, but understated; the acting was all well-done, and the plot carried itself. The viewer sees Nick start off clumsily, and practically cheers when he starts to be affected by the kids he's never got along with as he starts to understand them.Nick looks more developed than the bullies who try to intimidate him, but he always carries himself with a casually awkward air that could fit right in with a group of teens. His and Ms. Torrence's attraction to one another is carefully done - believable, but not overwhelming, so you forgive other characters missing it.It is not easy playing a 'quirky' character in a movie like this. The cast had to walk a line, never going so far that the movie became slapstick (the script would not have supported that), and did an excellent job. Check out Diane Ladd, for instance: her implication that a by-the-book persona covered a passionate nature was perfectly done. And Abe Vigoda, with that fantastic face - looks like a basset hound when serious, like a game show host when smiling! Often he does both within a few seconds of each other. Seymour Cassel, Robert Stack, George Wendt, Suzy Amis, and Jackie Gayle all showed great comedic delivery. The minimal violence and sex was well-done, as well. Often such things are better implied than shown, and although there was some (it IS a murder mystery, and there are romantic entanglements to deal with), it was appropriate. The music, montages, costuming and settings were all make for a believable a late-80s high school, although the dialogue was overblown for comedic effect.There was a slight glitch in the characterization when it is at first implied Nick (like his brother) has a hair-trigger temper, and then spends most of the more tense, humiliating scenes acting like he has (more than) adult control. It worked for the plot, though. The clues dropped for the mystery are often disguised as humour; I do not think the audience will have an "Aha!" moment like Nick apparently does, but it worked well in this context.More than one fan has said they want this on DVD - well, me, too! But I do not see a way to suggest it on Paramount's home page, so I will try to make do with a deteriorating VHS copy. If anyone wants to tell me how to make my vote known, I would welcome it! _Plain Clothes_ on digital! With any extras you can dig up after two decades! PLEASE! (And, as an aside, what a useless title: when I tried to find this movie, the title was the thing I never remembered about it.)All said, a fun, light-hearted movie, full of human nature, nostalgia, and quotable lines.

I wouldn't give this movie an overall good mark, but I think in its niche it well deserves its average. To be an eighties movie it contains enough for the younger viewer to enjoy. I quite liked the small poetry incorporated. One thumb up!