Oxford Blues

Rob Lowe is pretty and pretty insufferable as a young American hotshot who falls in love with magazine pictures of a beautiful member of the English nobility (Amanda Pays) and cons his way into Oxford University so he can hook up with her. Fortunately, like most working-class kids from Las Vegas, he's an ace at rowing crew! Loew's Nick Di Angelo is a total dick who doesn't even try to adhere to any of the school's traditions, but that doesn't stop fellow Yank Ally Sheedy from falling for him—she's cute as a button in this but insufferably manic. Playing Nick's rivals for Lady Victoria's affections, Julian Sands gets the first of many dashing, if somewhat sinister, roles he'd specialize in. Meanwhile, Cary Elwes, in his first major role, is a scream playing an upper-class twit. Rob's little brother Chad has a brief, uncredited part as the kid whose abilities to hack into Oxford's enrolment WarGames style using an Apple 2 land Nick his spot at the prestigious university (though his grades were almost good enough to get him there on his own!) Making his directorial debut, screenwriter Robert Boris does a decent job of getting this to at least look like a real movie, considering the ultra-low budget. However, he gets uneven performances when not working with director-proof British actors like Michael Gough and Aubrey Morris. I can't imagine anyone was very happy with their work here except the wonderfully over-the-top Elwes, whose brother, Cassian, produced the film with his step-dad, the notorious American producer Elliott Kastner.