Product Details

• Actors: Chris Lilley
• Format: Color, DVD, Widescreen, Closed-captioned, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: HBO
• DVD Release Date: February 24, 2009
• Run Time: 240 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001GXR7A6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,323 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Summer Heights High" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Australian writer/performer Chris Lilley specializes in the comedy of narcissism. All three of his characters in the mockumentary series Summer Heights High are blindly, maddeningly self-absorbed: Mr. G, a drama teacher who writes and directs his own musicals; Ja'mie, a preening 16-year-old from a wealthy private school who views her year at public school as purgatory; and Jonah, a Tongan juvenile delinquent who's been previously expelled from two other schools. The series' 8 episodes follow these three as they seek to find some form of fame and adulation.Mr. G struggles to create a musical about a student who recently died of a drug overdose... only it becomes increasingly about a heroic drama teacher whose dog dies in an accident; Ja'mie desperately wants to stage a formal dance and will lie, bribe, and manipulate to do it; and Jonah wants to do breakdancing with his posse, but he's simply incapable of keeping himself from insulting his teachers and getting into fights with other students. While Mr. G and Ja'mie are blinkered monsters, Jonah verges on tragic, as he stumbles towards increasing self-destruction. The thoroughness of Lilley's creations is impressive, as the comedian loses himself fully in these characters. Still, some viewers may find them more aggravating than funny; just a hint of self-awareness might have made them a little easier to spend time with. But for anyone who connects with Lilley's humor, Summer Heights High will be a feast of juicy, unfiltered, rampaging egomania. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Summer Heights High (Click for larger image)

Product Description

SUMMER HEIGHTS HIGH - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Improvisational Satire at its Best, November 29, 2008

By 

Juviebetfixer "X" (Turin, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer Heights High (DVD)

Australia has given us some excellent character actors: script-ripping stagemen who can become larger than life caricatures. Think Crocodile Dundee, or -- better yet -- Dame Edna.

But Chris Lilley has come along and surpassed them all. Indeed, his versatility and roaringly off-putting humour surpasses any of the dark humour in 'Little Britain' or other such countrywide satires.

Now we in North America can enjoy 'Summer Heights High', one of the truly wicked and funny send-ups of a secondary school mini-universe, its cliques, turf wars, and teachers (who are barely more mature than the students).

'Summer Heights High' deserves proper sequential viewing -- one cannot simply dive into a later episode and acquire the plot. Lilley's immense talent for character-forming deserves close attention and patience as he lays down, through improvisation, innuendo, and sheer brilliance for skit acting, three distinct narratives (which amazingly never cross paths) in a suburban Australian school. Details of these three personas which he takes on can be found widely, so I won't repeat the background stories here. I just want to state that Lilley's ability to assume different characters is positively uncanny. I mean, uncanny. Take an excellent method actor and combine it with a razor mouthed pirrahna of improv and quick-thinking, and you get a sense of just how kooky and unpredictable Lilley is.

For my money, it surpasses the muti-headed hydra pranks of Cohen (of 'Borat' fame). Because Lilley can deliver sinister and scathing satire on racism, drugs, and just about every other taboo -- but just when you wonder if he's a nihilist, out comes a breathtaking moment of magnificent spirit and heart. The final scenes involving Jonah Takalua are simply headshakingly good, without any hint of that 'very special moment' that usually mars most dramas supposedly about teens.

Chris Lilley, you're brilliant, mate.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome show!, February 15, 2009

By 

*Caligirl_08* (San Diego) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Summer Heights High (DVD)

I'm not Australian and have never been there. I stumbled upon this show by accident and watched all 8 episodes in two days. It's really hilarious and I love how in Australia touchy subjects and foul language aren't censored! It makes things much more real and true to life. I wish there were more episodes but it's more fitting for it to end the way it did. My favorite was Jonah Takalua and his friends, but Mr. G and Ja'mie were hilarious too! I didn't realize Ofa was a girl until episode 3!

This show makes me want to search for more Aussie shows and to visit Australia for vacation. I've heard HBO has picked this up, I'd recommend everyone give it a try. if you guys liked Ali G & Borat you will surely love this!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original and Hilarious, November 23, 2008

By 

EarthFan (St.Louis,Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer Heights High (DVD)

Chris Lilley has done it again. Summer Heights High is his best work yet. This series is about three characters(all played by Lilley) at a high school in Austraila(where the series is based). We meet Jonah, a 13 year old delinquent. Ja'mie, a snobby, downright awful girl who was transfered from a private school. My personal favourite is Mr.G, the drama teacher, whos ego is as large as Aussie itself. This one isnt really for the kids though. Most of the humour will go right over their heads (plus the swearing).

This series is refreshing and new. I'm so glad it FINALLY came to America.
If you cant wait, buy the Region 4 dvd. It will work on some American dvd players.