Recess: School’s Out (2001)
Summary
When summer vacation begins, T.J. Detweiler discovers something strange happening at his elementary school. With his friends away at various camps, T.J. uncovers a plot by a former principal to eliminate recess permanently by altering the weather. Reuniting the gang—and even teaming up with former playground rivals—T.J. leads a mission to save summer and protect the sacred institution of recess.
Director
Chuck Sheetz
Writers
Jonathan Greenberg
(based on the television series created by Paul Germain & Joe Ansolabehere)
Cast
- Andrew Lawrence as T.J. Detweiler
- Rickey D’Shon Collins as Vince LaSalle
- Pamela Adlon as Ashley Spinelli
- Ashley Johnson as Gretchen Grundler
- Jason Davis as Mikey Blumberg
- Courtland Mead as Gus Griswald
- Dabney Coleman as Principal Prickly
- James Woods as Dr. Benedict
- April Winchell as Miss Finster
Rotten Tomatoes: 60%
Metacritic: 43
VOD / Release
Available on digital and home media
Trailer
by LiteraryBoner
6 Comments
I never saw Phillium again. He quit teaching, went into politics, eventually became Secretary of Education, until the president fired him for trying to get rid of recess again, only this time it was nationwide!
This was one of my favorites as a kid
E: the outro/credit song was a lot of fun too https://youtu.be/oRwoG6-jeqE?si=utKBUbOfpshCDaW1
…Remember the episode where recess was cancelled at the school and the test scores utterly tanked because the kids didn’t get enough time to rest between classes? Yeah, how do we know that wasn’t Benedict forcing the school to be used as a test bed for his theories, they backfire immensely and got him fired, kicking off the plot of the film?
25 years ago? I need to lay down, holy shit.
The part where they combat ninjas with feral kindergartners still lives rent free in my head.
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt…