BRIAN KERWIN AND STEPHEN FURST ARE 'GETTING WASTED'

Title: GETTING WASTED aka SOFT EXPLOSTION Year: 1980 Rating: ***

Plenty of wild-party-flicks came out in the wake of ANIMAL HOUSE, and GETTING WASTED — trading college for a military academy — co-stars Stephen Furst, literally the biggest geek in HOUSE and one of many pot-smokers here that are... well... GETTING WASTED (or more like pretty buzzed)...

And when new guy Brian Kerwin shows up in the bunkhouse... after being driven to the academy while Buffalo Springfield's counter-culture anthem For What It's Worth plays... he gets along with the local cadets instantly, especially cool guy Cooper Huckabee and second-string sidekick Ken Michelman...

Poster Art from GETTING WASTED

What's lacking is tension, or anyone (or anything) to rebel against since the officers running the school are pointless, and during random excursions to the beach-dwelling exterior... the late-1970's pretending to be the late-1960's... there's one forced love interest, a couple of wacko acid-heads and a gang of 11th hour bullies...

Yet the good times still roll, even though — backed by a jukebox of other classic-rock artists from Donovan and Canned Heat — these kids are out to rebel anyway possible but... set during the generation when GETTING WASTED was commonplace... it's hard to tell the cadets from the hippies: or for their pivotal differences to matter.

Stephen Furst in GETTING WASTED (all screen caps are B&W because of the lousy source quality)

Stephen Furst in GETTING WASTED

Gina Gallego and George O'Hanlon Jr. in GETTING WASTED

Ken Michelman and Stephen Furst in GETTING WASTED

Brian Kerwin and Cooper Huckabee in GETTING WASTED

Wendy Rastattar and Brian Kerwin in GETTING WASTED

Ken Michelman and Brian Kerwin in GETTING WASTED

Peter Aslop in GETTING WASTED

Wendy Rastattar & Brian Kerwin in GETTING WASTED

Wendy Rastattar pictured on Getting Wasted VHS