That's Cunning! Shijo Saidai no Sakusen (1996)

The poster is totally unrelated to the story, but nevertheless, it was a  very fun movie that has aged quite well. I love American 90's movies, and this one was very similar to them... location, jokes, life of the students, etc. The first 10  minutes or so had me giggling the whole time, it was both impressive and imaginative. It reminded me a little bit of my high school life XD Then it is all about the students trying to save their dorm, but the principal -the villain- makes a pact with them: in order to save the  dorm they all need to grade 100 points. And what's the safest way than cheating in all the exams? XD

The group of students are all colorful, a bit geeky but silly. Pretty Namie Amuro is part of the gang because she has to go and fall for her dimwit classmate XD

All of them look so young! But they didn't change much, like Namie, Yamaguchi and Fujiki Naohito. They all look them same, the men even aged like wine.

A very fun 1 hour and a half movie. Short and to the point. I think anyone who likes classic American comedy would like this.

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Just watch the cheating scenes on social media. The creep factor is too high.

Here's the thing. I actually really enjoyed the plot and the plot scenes. It rather reminded of US films "Max Keeble's Big Move" and "Sydney White." "Sydney White" the most (and yes, I know Sydney White came later. I'm not claiming it's a remake or inspired by or anything like that). Instead of a stuck up sorority though, the leads in this movie are going against an immoral professor who sees a certain group of students as not only useless to society, but a thorn in his side in the way of getting what he wants. He sets an extremely high bar and promises that it's the ONLY way for the leads to be able to keep their dormitory and stay in school. That bar: all A's across all exams for all the students of that group. Even if they had been traditionally good students, this is a bar with too high of a fail rate. Their solution and perceivable only chance at success? All of them cheat on all the exams.

The cheating scenes are so enjoyable and humorous. I loved them and even replayed a few of them.

But that's the thing. That is all this movie has good to offer. And you can find all these scenes on social media without having to resort to sitting down for this.

Because the cheating scenes and the over the top villain are not the only comedic tools in this film's arsenal. No. In between all these plot scenes is creepy sexual humor. Every male character (you know, except the main male lead that pushes the plot forwards) is so creepily interested in the female lead. Teachers goggling her bare legs. A dormitory manager supposedly drugging her food in the hopes of her seeking him out that night. A whole group of guys getting into her bath water after she leaves to "taste" her. A predatory staff member making sexual advances on a student in order to get information from him about the cheating ring. The students being strip searched for cheating answers, and then getting peeped on and walked in on before they get dressed again.

In essence: the appeal is the plot (aka the cheating scheme), but everything in between just puts a very bad taste in my mouth that left me disgusted. Perhaps this was funny when the movie released, but it didn't age well at all.

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It's a super funny movie. Though it is not a popular one. It's not even popular in mydramalist. The story is good. It's about cheating in exam . In short the story goes  like this-all student of dorm must got A  to save their dorm from demolition and how unique ways they can find to cheat in exam. It is my first Japanese live action movie and i thoroughly enjoyed it. What i liked is that they it is a pure comedy movie not a romantic comedy which is very common today. Main characters  and villain who is a evil professor acted very well. Music is okay. What i really liked is that how students get unique ways to cheat in every exam though most of them are highly unrealistic but even Hollywood movies are also sometimes unrealistic. It serves is purpose which is to make people laugh. Overall, i recommend everyone to watch it.

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OLD BUT GOLD

●This might be the oldest movie that I am watching via MDL recommendation.
I always get to watch the clips of this movie so I took a keen interest to watch the full movie and the purpose of making it. It is not made to inspire students to do cheating but to tell that cheating is an ART, Cheating is a beauty.

●The title itself is ingenious showcasing the beauty of Cheating. The story is simple but the scripting is excellent. comedy is everywhere and the actors and their actions make it 10x times better. in spite of being an old movie, it keeps up a good pace and keeps on the nostalgia of cheating. the comedy is extremely lighthearted and truly hilarious. It was jaw-dropping, and I couldn’t control my laughter at times.

●Considering that it was made in 1996, its had incredible amount of modern devices which we didn’t hear or saw in those time not in real life or on TV. Japan truly had boomed in the electronics and gadgets world. the number of gadgets used tells that they worked hard to achieve those in the 90's era.

●This movie goes into my stress reliever list of all times.
●My friend told me once “you are not a cheater until you are caught, it is a skill which only a few people have.”

●I am planning to rewatch this movie with my friends for movie night soon, although they don't like watching subtitles, I convinced them somehow that there aren't many dialogues and only cheating in the classroom.

●THE CREATIVITY AND SKILLS USED THROUGHOUT HISTORY ARE ART ITSELF.

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