Showing posts with label High School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label High School. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Date and Switch (U.S. 2014)




The Gist: 
High school seniors and best friends Michael and Matty have the traditional teen sex comedy movie problem, they are "still" virgins. So they decide to deal with it in the traditional movie way and pledge to lose their virginity by prom. Except that they aren't in a traditional teenage sex comedy and things get confusing for Michael when Matty comes out of the closet and life goes off in directions he was not prepared for. 

Comments: 
Looking around online it seems a lot of people didn't like the movie that much, or at least that critics didn't much like it. I on the other hand thought it was a fun goofy twist on a high school based comedy. 

Which is not to say it's a great movie. The jokes don't all work, the story and editing could be tighter, and as is traditional for a high school flick, the leads all seem far too old to play teenagers. Also somewhat distractingly, the actor playing Matty either gained or lost weight during the filming. Given the way movies aren't shot in chronological order, it is noticeable (and amusing) how he occasionally gains or drops a few pounds from scene to scene. 

All this aside, it still ends up being a better example of a high school virgin sex comedy. Not that there's a lot of sex going here, since the whole losing your virginity in time for prom thing is just a loose framework to support the real core of the movie, of learning to grow up and dealing with life changing. 

While I liked it, I'm not sure I'd recommend it, or least not without the caveat that you already be predisposed to liking high school comedies, otherwise the angst filled teens will only annoy rather than amuse.

Women: 
Yes, moms, girlfriends, students, workers,...

People of color:
A few

Gratuitous Nudity:
Very brief booty


  • Director: Chris Nelson
  • Writer: Alan Yang
  • Actors: Nicolas Braun, Hunter Cope
  • 91 min
  • IMDB




Saturday, October 4, 2014

GBF (U.S. 2013)




The Gist:
The top three ruling popular girls at a high school, having learned from magazines, TV, and movies that every woman needs a gay best friend (GBF), try to out maneuver each other to swoop up the only (accidentally) out gay on campus, nerdy boy Tanner, to ensure that they, and not their two rivals, will be prom queen.

While dealing with his sudden found popularity, Tanner also has to figure out how to deal with his best friends who are now all angry with him. 

Comments (with a mild not really surprising or relevant to plot spoiler): 
The story description has all the earmarks of potential horribleness, but it surprisingly manages not to be. Which is not to say that it's particularly good. Cute would be a better adjective. Also fluffy. Cute and fluffy. 

It's decent quality wise and is amusing, if not laugh out loud funny. 

There is also a lesson in it somewhere. Something about being true to yourself, or accepting people as people and not objects, or something something high school something something, but well, the lesson isn't perhaps super important when there's so much cuteness going on. Also fluffiness. Cuteness and fluffiness. 

Oddly it's rated R, because as cute and fluffy as the movies is, apparently the sight of two teen boys kissing means that actual high school teens are presumed to be too young to see it without adult supervision. Spoiler, you get to see two high school "age" boys kissing. 

Joke aside, the rating is rather annoying, because compared to most high school teen movies, this one is rather sweet and innocent, leaving "the gay" as the only reason for the R. 

Women:
Yes

People of color:
Some

Gratuitous nudity:
No


  • Director: Darren Stein
  • Writer: George Northy
  • Actors: Tanner Daniels, Brent Van Camp, FAwcett Brooks, Shely Osgoode, Caprice Winters
  • 92 min
  • IMDB