Hot Under the Collar

Hot Under the Collar is a 1992 low-budget comedy movie directed by Richard Gabai about a young man named Jerry (Gabai) who tries to seduce his girlfriend Monica (Melinda Clarke) using hypnosis, but accidentally causes her to join a convent instead. Desperate to get her back, Jerry sneaks into the convent himself, only to run into a larger scheme involving stolen diamonds, a local mobster, and the Pope. The film costars Rajnish Babakan, Jeff Bowser, Karman Kruschke, and Angela Visser. The film is a sequel to Gabai's 1991 film Virgin High, and features many of the same cast members (as well as borrowing large chunks of the same plot).

This was the film debut of actress Melinda Clarke, who subsequently went on to larger roles and greater fame in television shows such as The O.C. and Nikita.

Plot
While practicing self-hypnosis, Monica accidentally overhears a TV preacher's command to his followers to search for a sign from God and, when they find it, to dedicate their lives to serving the Almighty. Deep in trance, Monika absorbs the sermon as a post-hypnotic suggestion. Later, while making out with Jerry at a Lover's Lane (and after being hypnotized again), Monica "sees the sign" she's been programmed to seek out and decides to join the local convent at once.

Jerry, desperate (and frustrated at having yet another girlfriend end up at this same local convent) disguises himself as a priest, and later as a nun, to enter the convent in the hope of hypnotizing Monica back to her normal self. He ends up crossing paths with Joe (Babakan) who is posing as the convent's gardener but who is actually hiding out from mobsters after stealing diamonds from them. The mobsters track Joe down and also try their hand at infiltrating the convent to get at him. Things get even more complicated when the Pope (Burt Ward) arrives in town to make an appearance at the convent. It's up to Jerry and his friends to not only save deprogram Monica but also to stop the mobsters and save the Pope.