The defence The Sentimental Softie
“It owes the canon nothing.”
The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.
Back to trending 
Three O'Clock High
Comedy · 1987
Nerdy high schooler Jerry Mitchell is assigned to write an article for the school paper about the infamous new delinquent transfer student, Buddy Revell. When Jerry accidentally invades Buddy's personal space and touches him, Buddy challenges Jerry to an afterschool fight in the parking lot, which Jerry tries to avoid at all costs.
Movie details
Three O'Clock High
“Jerry Mitchell just bumped into Buddy Revell. Now Jerry isn't thinking about math or english. Because at three o'clock, he's history.”
1987 Comedy 1h 39m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.1 / 10
14K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
60 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
36 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.8 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Nerdy high schooler Jerry Mitchell is assigned to write an article for the school paper about the infamous new delinquent transfer student, Buddy Revell. When Jerry accidentally invades Buddy's personal space and touches him, Buddy challenges Jerry to an afterschool fight in the parking lot, which Jerry tries to avoid at all costs.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Three O'Clock High?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Phil Joanou
Written by
Tom Szollosi · Richard Christian Matheson
Casey Siemaszko
Jerry Mitchell
A
Annie Ryan
Franny Perrins
Richard Tyson
Buddy Revell
Stacey Glick
Brei Mitchell
Jonathan Wise
Vincent Costello
Jeffrey Tambor
Mr. Rice
Philip Baker Hall
Detective Mulvahill
Court is in session
Put Three O'Clock High on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”
It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.