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STUDENT EXCHANGE (Dir: Mollie Miller, 1987).
A lightweight teen comedy from Walt Disney Television. Originally screened in two parts on ABC's The Disney Sunday Movie series.
Greeley High School students Carole and Neil are top of the class academically but bottom of the heap socially. Passing themselves of as foreign exchange students in a bid to be noticed, they are a hit with fellow pupils, less so with the school principal. Predictably, things get a little out of hand and the pair are soon wishing they were their old selves again.
Inexplicably, identity switch movies were something of a Disney Sunday Movie staple in the 1980s. The previous season had presented Young Again (Steven Hilliard Stern, 1986), Double Switch (David Greenwalt, 1987) and Double Agent (Michael Vejar, 1987) while the current series also offered Rock 'n' Roll Mom (Michael Schultz, 1988) and 14 Going on 30 (Paul Schneider, 1988). Meanwhile The Disney Channel was churning out a seemingly endless series of sequels to Disney's original switheroo comedy The Parent Trap (David Swift, 1961).
There is little in Student Exchange that is particularly original and nothing that really makes it stand out among the plethora of teenage wish fulfillment movies. Mollie Miller's direction is solid and the performances are fine, although the production cannot quite shake the feeling of an extended TV episode.
It also suffers from a message that is slightly muddled. While it is undoubtedly important to be yourself, Student Exchange makes it seem a lot more fun to be the popular kid and get the girl/boy of your dreams.
Viveka Davis and Todd Field are likeable leads, but perhaps of more interest to modern audiences is the supporting cast. A post-Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner, pre-fame Heather Graham and pre-infamy O J Simpson all put in appearances.
Student Exchange is a pleasant enough nostalgia trip. Teens and tweens of the late 80s may get more out of it than anybody else. But i don't see why younger audiences wouldn't enjoy it too; essentially it is a modern day Disney Channel movie in 1980s clothing. It is predictable and formulaic but also good-natured fun.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of Student Exchange!
“You should find a better way to source your goons,” the new kid remarked. They straightened, rolling their shoulders as if lifting some unseen weight. They had looked terrified before, all doe eyes and heaving chest and stuttering questions.
Now… now they looked prepared.
Adelaide eyed them with uncertainty.
This was not the new kid she had brought into the fold for their uncanny ability to crack safes. This was not the gawky teenager whose tragic backstory shimmered at the edges of their eyes.
No. This was someone else entirely.
“You are not the person I hired,” Adelaide tugged a bit on the edge of the handcuff, found it binding her to the edge of the car door.
The new kid smiled, all polished confidence.
“No, but I play them well, don’t I?”
Police sirens began to howl as the museum alarms stirred to life, as if blearily saying “something has been stolen, something is missing, someone has been bad.”
If it was up to her, they’d be long gone.
The new kid tucked their hands into their pockets.
“Who are you,” she asked then, because what else was there to say? The rest of her team had fled into the framework of this city, like they were trained to. It was just her, and the person wearing the costume of the new kid.
The new kid shrugged, jauntily.
“Youngest up and coming agent, at your service,” they tipped their head. “High test scores, fast reflexes, people pleasing perfectionism. The works.”
Adelaide studied their face, the outright arrogance, and frowned.
“That’s as much of a mask as the one you wore earlier.”
The new kid’s eyes glittered.
“They did say you were the best,” they said amicably. They sauntered closer as police cars threw themselves onto the pavement around them, corralling them in walls of metal.
The new kid grabbed Adelaide’s collar and pressed their mouth to her ear. She flinched against their hold, and their fingers tightened around her lapel.
“I’ll have you out in three days time—the valuables will be sold and dispersed, and the money filed into an impossibly long line of untraceable accounts. By the time they realize the money trail is cold, you’ll be gone with the wind.”
The new kid glanced towards the cop cars as doors slammed.
“Now. Act as if I’ve taunted you. All arrogant young operative high off their own success, yes?”
Confusion flooded her—then cool understanding.
“You do this every day? Double cross the police and propagate crime.”
The new kid pulled back, cat like in the satisfaction smeared across their face, and grinned harder.
“Only on Tuesdays.”
They winked at her, and she lunged for them, screaming obscenities.
“You bastard,” she put as much conviction in it as she could. By the reactions of the police, they bought it. “You traitorous piece of—“
The new kid—or more aptly named, Monarch—had them out in three days, as promised.
They ruled the city in two months.