Just watched this tonight. Don't understand why its rating is so low, can only assume it's because people have a problem with it being from Screech's perspective or maybe didn't like that the actors were not exactly like their characters or didn't concentrate more on what people expected to see... Whatever the reason, I think it's unjust as this is actually a fairly good film. I'd really rate it a 7, but am giving it an 8 here to help bump it up a bit to a more realistic rating: 4.6 is totally unjustified. The acting and pace are good, and honestly I thought it was a bit too short, would have liked them to go into 'The College Years' but guess they didn't have time. I grew up watching Saved By The Bell so was very interested to watch this. I know it did not depict every single thing accurately and omitted a fair bit, but I really enjoyed it anyway and was not bored at any point, it left me wanting more.
I think it would be better to be familiar with Saved By The Bell before watching as there isn't time to explain very much about the TV show itself, though you could probably still get away with not knowing much about it, and still enjoy it. Am glad I watched it and would happily watch again. Maybe my familiarity with the characters (i.e. the real-life actors from Saved By The Bell) is biasing my view, but I'd guess most people who go to watch this film will have the same background anyway.
I think it would be better to be familiar with Saved By The Bell before watching as there isn't time to explain very much about the TV show itself, though you could probably still get away with not knowing much about it, and still enjoy it. Am glad I watched it and would happily watch again. Maybe my familiarity with the characters (i.e. the real-life actors from Saved By The Bell) is biasing my view, but I'd guess most people who go to watch this film will have the same background anyway.