Harry here to just say, I really have no interest to see this movie at all, so if you need further convincing read what the Blue Beetle has to say. YAWN...
I went to a test screening last night (in Manhattan) of the new Miramax teen flick "She's All That," starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Anna Paquin. Well, I gotta tell ya, it wasn't all that.
First off, it's already obviously been heavily cut according to other test screenings, 'cause it didn't make any sense whatsoever. Clearly the marketing people have determined that too much exposition will bore the 14-24 target audience, so they just took it all out. Lots of scenes alluded to previous relationships between characters and plotlines that were never established. Way too much editing here.
A couple bright notes, though. Matthew Lillard appears as a former castmember of MTV's Real World, in what looked to be a bit part expanded in order to give audiences more of what they want ("hey that guy from scream was really funny in this movie ... put more of him in!"). Still, he was funny, and he really threw himself into what amounts to an extended cameo.
Also, although I have no idea why an Oscar winning actress of Paquin's caliber took this role (the script must've been completely thrown away in editing, is all I can imagine), she is pretty darn charming in this modern day Pollyanna role. She's very cute and a lot of fun. I look forward to her taking on some more exciting projects in the future.
Also in the film are Kevin Pollack (as Paquin's father), Keiran Culkin (her brother), Usher Raymond (some sort of school dj- I don't know, it didn't really make sense. I think they might have put him in after filming to try to make sense of the plot-it didn't work). And a completely unexplained blink and you miss her cameo by Buffy Summers herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. There were a bunch of other young teen stars who I didn't really recognize.
My opinion is the only way to save this movie is to put back whatever was cut out. I still doubt it would be much more than any of the dozens of goofy teen comedies of the eighties, but at least it would make some sense and give us a chance to see the actors complete performances.
Essentially this was a retread of Patrick Dempsey's teen comedy Can't Buy Me Love (with an inexplicable dance sequence and all!), except that it's completely incoherent.
Blue Beetle.
