Fast Times is somewhat the older brother of Dazed and Confused which is 11 years it's minor. Alike it's brother-in-arms it dishes out early or first appearances to some actors and actresses who became household names afterwards, like Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold. Also, Nicolas Cage, billed under his real name and Eric Stolz have some minor roles in it.

Especially Sean Penn's role as always stoned surfer dude Jeff Spicoli in his constant fight with history teacher Mr. Hand helped Fast Times to become a cult classic of the 80s.

The story is based on Cameron Crowe's report of his year at Clairemont High School in San Diego and circles around the usual teenager topics: Love, sex, drugs and working your job at the local mall or burger t.

The topics of sex and drugs are tackled in such an innocent way which was not tainted by the appearance of HIV and AIDS later in that decade. It goes so far that even teenage pregnancy and abortion are taken as a plot device without any drama or impact on the characters involved, which makes it rather shallow and unnecessary. At least, we are spared any moral teaching about these topic.

Over all, a real cult classics which provided a platform for young actors and although Penn went into a completely different direction with his career, Jeff Spicoli will always be ed.