Snowballing

"Snowballing" is a movie with a lot of camp potential, unfortunately it seems to aspire to be something more. No chance, guys, sorry. It's spring break, and a busload of "kids" (creepily played by 20-somethings) have arrived for a week on the slopes, and a vaguely defined competition. All the character paradigms are here. We've got the wacky jokester, well played by Steven Tash (who also had a small but memorable role in "Ghostbusters" as the student who gets shocked), the two everymen, the jock with blow-dried hair, the pretty girl, the pretty girl's fat friend, and scores of irrationally horny women, and even the movie artwork featuring an illustration of the guys surrounded by the said horny women. All the ingredients for a great campy film are here, but then the movie wastes it's time with a subplot about corruption within the local resort ownership and law enforcement. These scenes grind the movie to a halt. Fortunately, there are still moments of awful brilliance, the pretty girl's overweight friend character, Bonnie, is a joke. She's content to live vicariously through her pretty friend not for any real reason, but because the screenwriter didn't have the guts to pair her up with somebody. It's also a treat to see the the impossibilities that the movie uses to tie up the plot neatly. I won't get into specifics, but it requires the suspension of the known laws of physics, medicine, and human behavior. If you're looking for a film that's so bad it's good, I'd look elsewhere. "Snowballing" takes itself too seriously to be any fun; it just doesn't know it's role.

A group of high school seniors arrive at a snowed in hotel for a skiing tournament. Their goofy, ineffectual principal is ignored by his students, but then threatens to ruin their good time when three of them - the protagonists, I guess - find out they have to share their hotel room with him. They apparently attempt to murder him by locking him out in the cold. A great idea for a silly comedy, no? I guess the protagonists are not just the usual '80s sex comedy types looking for fun and girls. They're also psychopaths. The movie gets a lot of mileage out of showing skiing related accidents, particularly with people yelling out "WHOAAAAAAAA". Gets boring pretty quickly. But these scenes go on forever. The kooky locals... er, local.. in the town the movie's hotel is in are a crazy old lady who thinks she comes from another planet, or something. The main character is the typical average joe who is maybe a bit more mature than his goofball buddies, who only care about sex. He's actually interested in the girls for more than just their biological capabilities. Of course, he has a hapless pal who just wants to get laid, and keeps getting shot down. There's also an unattractive chubby girl who deals with self esteem issues when she keeps getting overlooked by the guys. Of course, the movie ends with skiing tournament. Who cares who wins? Not me. Not you. You'll just be glad it's ending.

Just wanted to defend this one seeing as how the other reviews are pretty negative. I thought it was a decent addition to the cheesy '80s teen comedy genre. The cast was a fairly likeable group of unknowns, the biggest name being Mary McDonough, who played one of the daughters on The Waltons. Steven Tash I recognized as the spritual stoner buddy from Beachballs (another forgotten film). Alan Sues channels Paul Lynde as he plays a hapless science teacher/chaperone that keeps having bad stuff happen to him. And, yes, he gets chased by a giant snowball while dressed as Indiana Jones. The whole thing moves along following a slim plotline and lots of cheap gags, but still manages to be kind of charming anyway. A steady stream of nameless synth instrumentals on the soundtrack. All in all, a nice little '80s time capsule, albeit a snow-filled one. If you liked Joysticks or Party Camp or Hot Moves or anything else in this vein, I would recommend this (sorry, no nudity).

My review was written in January 1987 after watching the film on Prism video cassette. "Snowballing" is an innocuous teen comedy, sort of a sanitized version of "Hot Dog... The Movie". Picture was lensed in Park City, Utah, four years ago with various alternate titles such as "Winter Vacation", "Snow Job" and "Smooth Moves", but never received a theatrical release from Comorld Pictures, debuting now on video cassette instead. Formula plot has kids from Monroe High School arriving for an annual skiing competition, but cheated on thief vacation fees by the corrupt organizer of the event, Tolson (Bob Hastings), who's in cahoots with the local sheriff (Bill Zuckert). A trio of teens (P. R. Paul), Michael Sharrett and Steven Tash) are trying to get some action going with the local girls as well as their female classmates, leading to the usual gags. Skiing stunts are okay, while the film's humorous content is weak. Best gag has the kids' nerdish chaperone/science teacher Roy Balaban (Alan Sues camping it up) buying an Indiana Jones hat as a fashion statement, and then chased all around the resort by a giant snowball. Despite feeble attempts at vulgarity, this is intended as wholesome entertainment, made by filmmakers from the Sunn Classics school. Video cassette packaging tries to make it seem more risque than it is, with the misleading labeling of "No rating" on the box, while the proper PG rating is indicated onlyon the cassette inside.