Movie reviews  

 

May 12, 2004, 3:02PM
Not Another Teen Movie
 

By BRUCE WESTBROOK
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

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MOVIE DETAILS
Not Another Teen Movie

MPAA Rating
R
strong crude sexual content and humor, language and some drug content

Running Time
88 minutes

Released
Dec 14, 2001
(Nationwide)

Distributed By
Sony Pictures

Official Web Site

Just call it 10 Things We Love About Bringing On All That.

As counter-programming to year-end Oscar bait, Not Another Teen Movie is a breath of fresh, frisky air, even if it does hinge on clichés.

Of course, clichés are what it's all about. This is to the teen romantic comedies what Scary Movie was to mindless slasher flicks.

Like that film, Teen Movie owes the most to that 1980's off-the-wall landmark, Airplane!, from its deadpan ensemble to its busy screen littered with nutty signs and sight gags.

The idea is to hurl so much mirth at the wall that even if half of it doesn't stick, the movie still clicks.

Principal points of reference are recent boy-girl films and John Hughes' '80s trailblazers, such as Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club.

Teen Movie is filled with familiar character types, impishly defined on its poster.

Janey (Chyler Leigh) is "the Pretty Ugly Girl," an obvious beauty who's deemed drab by her classmates at "John Hughes High" simply because she wears glasses, a ponytail and overalls.

Jake (Chris Evans), "the Popular Jock," bets a friend he can turn the ugly duckling into a prom queen -- and may fall for her along the way.

Any comparisons with She's All That are purely deliberate.

Ricky (Eric Jungmann) is "the Obsessed Best Friend," who whimpers through a poem "10 Things I Love About Janey" and has even less chance of romancing her than Jon Cryer did with Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink.

Between these points on the triangle are desperate virgins (American Pie); a fat football player (Varsity Blues); a makeover scene (Clueless); an awesome party without adult supervision (Can't Hardly Wait) and -- well, you get the picture.

Some are no-brainers, as when white cheerleaders (mascot: the Wasps) deny stealing material, then perform a pointedly black routine, as in Bring It On.

Other stabs are more subtle, such as naming the Wasps' home field Harry Dean Stadium.

Let's see -- didn't Harry Dean Stanton play Ringwald's jobless dad in Sixteen Candles? Bingo!

Randy Quaid takes the role here, adding unseemly extremes, but at least he avoids the film's worst excess: a toilet explosion.

Others may decry a vigorous kissing lesson out of Cruel Intentions, in which "the Cruelest Girl" (Mia Kirshner) locks slobbering lips with a 90-year-old "Undercover Reporter" (Beverly Polcyn). Others may object to Leigh's embarrassed exposure in her bedroom. Trust us: Jason Biggs got off easily in American Pie.

But why quibble? An R is an R, and this one is well-deserved.

Yet unlike Scary Movie, Teen isn't mean.

Though some characters are tormented and there's even some gore, the violence is as painlessly cartoonish as in The Simpsons' Itchy & Scratchy shorts.

Director Joel Gallen also shows true affection for his teen types, as epitomized by a joyous musical number. (Give teen flicks credit for reviving old-fashioned musical exuberance, via this film and Get Over It.)

The fresh cast of unknowns shows spunk and conviction, and some stars pop up in cameos. Look for grown-up Lacey Chabert (Party of Five) aping Jennifer Love Hewitt's vamp look in Can't Hardly Wait.

Or was that 16 Pink Breakfast Candles? Thanks to Teen Movie, they've become one big -- but happy -- blur.

Grade: B+

 

 

 

Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
movie review by Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Rating: FRESH (3/4)

The targets may be obvious, but director Joel Gallen and his squad of screenwriters happen to be the first to open fire. They can't help but score plenty of hits.
Nothing original is on display in "Not Another Teen Movie," but much of it is funny anyway.

The comedy combines teen movies of the John Hughes and Freddie Prinze Jr. eras and spoofs them the way "Airplane!" spoofed disaster movies. The targets may be obvious, but director Joel Gallen and his squad of screenwriters happen to be the first to open fire. They can't help but score plenty of hits.

Every clichéd character gets squeezed into the story, especially the girl considered unattractive because she wears glasses and her hair up (Chyler Leigh as Janey Briggs) and the school's BMOC (Chris Evans as Jake Wyler) who dates her on a bet. Of course Janey becomes a knockout once she removes her glasses and ponytail, though it may have been a better joke if she turned out to be less attractive.

The rest of the players at John Hughes High School look like a combined casting call for "American Pie," "The Breakfast Club," "Varsity Blues," "Sixteen Candles," "Bring It On," "Can't Hardly Wait," "She's All That," "Risky Business" and "Pretty in Pink."

You can imagine the only direction Gallen gave to many of his actors was "Pretend you're a young Rachael Leigh Cook, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt (why do all these girls have three names?) Chris Klein, Denise Richards, etc." Cleverly, the Jennifer Love Hewitt role, which consists of entering parties while everyone stops and stares, goes to her younger "Party of Five" sister Lacey Chabert.

Because "Not Another Teen Movie" comes in the post-"There's Something About Mary" era, many of its jokes go from vulgar to obscene. The wholesome looking cheerleader with Tourette's syndrome is an example. While never as extreme as "Scary Movie," the "outrageous" jokes are seldom as funny as those that are just dumb.

As in "Airplane!" and its successors, "Not Another Teen Movie" rides high on its sheer volume of jokes. For every two or three that make you groan, one will make laugh. The throwaway gags are often the funniest. Janey is caught reading "How to Get the Popular Boy Without Compromising Your Unique Rebelliousness." The cafeteria is named the Anthony Michael Dining Hall.

Other jokes are almost inspired, particularly the out-of-nowhere salute to "Grease."

Paul Gleason more or less reprises his role as "The Breakfast Club's" disciplinarian, leading a series of cameo appearances that include Mr. T and a surprise near the end.

With so many young actors impersonating their forebears, few get a chance to make an impression. However, Leigh is genuinely sympathetic as the "pretty/ugly girl" (as the press notes describe her). Because two cliché endings are in opposition, there is a bit of suspense over whether she will choose the reformed cool guy or the wacky best friend (Eric Jungmann) who has secretly loved her for years.

But Janey will make her decision right after the prom. At least that cliché goes unchallenged.