Private Lessons (1981)

Private Lessons is the prototypical example of 'young man, older woman' subgenre of the teen sex comedy. The teen-seduced-by-older-woman plot hook was novel at the time, and the ambitiously plotted script mixes some blackmail and suspense elements in with the usual sex-comedy high jinx. Even better, Private Lessons is a very well-cast film: Sylvia Kristel fulfills the fantasy-woman role nicely, Eric Brown makes a believably hormonal teen and reliable performers like Howard Hesseman and Ed Begley Jr. flesh out the cast nicely. Unfortunately, Private Lessons doesn't deliver on its modest amount of promise. Dan Greenburg's script fails to craft its workable elements into a tight story, and the limp direction by television vet Alan Myerson makes this a film that crawls at a snail's pace when it should be full of energy. The only parts of Private Lessons that are memorable are the scenes where Kristel seduces Brown and those are more unnerving than they are sexy when one learns Brown was only 16 years old at the time. In short, Private Lessons might function as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for teen boys, but it isn't all that worthwhile as entertainment. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide