SHE'S ALL THAT RATING: 6.5 / 10 --> So-so
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SCREAM (8/10) was the film that vogued teen flicks back into theatres, so let's take Matthew Lillard from that movie. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (7.5/10) was the follow-up teen-scream-popcorn-fest that brought in even more mighty mighty bucks, so let's take Freddie Prinze Jr. from that cast. Let's toss in Usher and Clea Duvall from last year's horror regurgitee THE FACULTY (6.5/10), Chris Owens and Clea (again!) from the Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle CAN'T HARDLY WAIT (7/10), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe from the latest HALLOWEEN: H20 (7.5/10), and even a cute cameo from the co-winner of the "Queen of Teen flicks" award, Sarah Michelle Gellar (the other being Jennifer Love Hewitt), and you've got yourself the makings of a perfect teen romantic comedy, right? Well, let's see...
PLOT: High school stud and all-around cool guy, Zach, is unceremoniously dumped by his sexual alter-ego girlfriend, Taylor, and fished into a bet by his friends to surreptitiously attempt to turn the school dorkiest girl, into the high school prom queen in six weeks. While he attempts to do just that, he soon finds himself actually beginning to like this "nerdy" girl.
CRITIQUE: Cute movie that contains quite a few laughs off the top, an endearing couple as its leads, but ultimately falls into the trap of utter predictability and one too many serious moments for its own comedic good. Another small problem with this film is the fact that the apparent "ugly duckling" girl in this movie is actually quite cute, even before any sort of physical transformation occurs. The touted prom queen on the other hand, could not be any more one-dimensional, and bitchy, giving us very little reason to give a crap about her. Don't get me wrong, I did actually enjoy most of this movie, especially an amazingly funny and pointed "performance artist" presentation near its inception, and the charming performances put forth by Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, who kept their characters interesting through most of this film's quick runtime.
One of my favorite movies of all-time, is actually quite similar to this one, in that a bunch of guys bet on who is going to bring the ugliest girl to a party. It's called DOGFIGHT (8/10) with River Phoenix and Lily Taylor, and it is more of a dramatic representation of the repercussions that may occur, when such a blatant lack of moral scruples strikes a couple who really like each other. This film does not even pretend to slice that deep, but does replace that lack of depth, with a slick soundtrack! :) And despite this movie being as predictable as 1-2-and ?, it does come through on its promise to fluffily entertain its target teenage audience with a hollow good time, some laughs, some semi-tender moments and a couple of appealing leads.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Co-stars Prinze Jr. and Cook also co-starred in 1997's THE HOUSE OF YES. She was a print model for 5 years before becoming an actress. She stands 5'2". The hilarious "performance artist" near the first quarter of the film is Alexis Arquette, one of the many brothers from the acting Arquette clan. Kieran Culkin is the real-life brother of that HOME ALONE (8/10) kid, Macauley Culkin. Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a cameo appearance in this film as one of the girls in the cafeteria during the infamous "Simon pizza-slice-meets-pubic-hair scene". Another interesting actress in this film plays the character of Mackenzie, Freddie Prinze Jr's sister. This actress actually won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the tender age of 12, for her role in the movie THE PIANO. Her name is Anna Paquin. She was born in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada. David Letterman once bet her $10,000 to get a basketball into a net. She did, but he took the money back after the show. The media caused a fuss about the whole deal, so he gave it back. Anna ended up giving all of the money away to charity. Director Robert Iscove also directed the 1997 television version of CINDERELLA starring Brandy and Whitney Houston. >From the "Who Hasn't?" files of trivia, it turns out that aside from co-starring with him on episodes of TV's "Nash Bridges", Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, once briefly dated co-star Don Johnson. The two main stars of 1998's THE MIGHTY also star in this movie. Kieran Culkin as Racheal Leigh Cook's younger brother, and Elden Henson as her close friend.
Review Date: January 31, 1999 Director: Robert Iscove Writer: Lee Fleming Producers: Peter Abrams, Richard N. Gladstein and Robert L. Levy Actors: Freddie Prinze Jr. as Zach, Rachael Leigh Cook as Laney Boggs, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe as Taylor Genre: Comedy Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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