I don't know too much about this flick, but well... the trailer didn't really do it for me. Hopefully we'll hear better things about it soon
I just got back from a press screening of "She's All That" tonight. Like so many of the pictures slated for release in '99, this film is a teen-sploitation piece. Its riding the Kevin Williamson-initiated and WB-perpetuated wave of the teen beat. And I'm okay with that. I grew up on the Brat Pack fodder of the eighties and have long wished for a mainstream revival of the genre. Some people revere John Ford and Francis Ford Coppola ... but for me, John Hughes and Savage Steve Holland are the true masters. Well, ok, perhaps not the only masters ... but whatever. Just know that I'm a sucker for any sort of a teen movie, which is why I've decided to email you - I simply cannot wait for press time before I put some sort of a response to this film out into the void.
I'll begin with a blanket statement: teen movies are predictable. They feature startlingly attractive casts, mediocre concepts, and pop music soundtracks. These are the things that Shermer, IL is made of. Studios make them because they're cheap, the on-screen labor is willing to work hard for nada and there is always money to be made from what they consider to be the impressionable teen market. The sad thing is that with Miramax's marketing abilities this film will make a decent chunk of change - the majority of which will be totally undeserved. To mess up the (seemingly) fool-proof formula of a teen comedy is hard; to mess up a teen comedy that has been cast with some proven young actors is ridiculously hard. So you can imagine my surprise when I walked out of the theater tonight knowing that I was going to have to gut this one. More importantly, I couldn't stop kicking myself for having skipped Buffy the Vampire Slayer to go to this screening, thank God for timer-operated vcr's (note: BTVS fans are probably the only people who will get giddy over this flick - Sarah Michelle Gellar has a silent cameo and former guest stars Clea DuVall and Carlos Jacott also have small parts).
For those who haven't caught the incessant commercials "She's All That" follows the plight of Zack (Freddie Prinze Jr.), a seemingly perfect high school senior who returns from spring break to learn that his perfectly bitchy (but beautiful) girlfriend has dumped him for a former "Real World" cast member. To deflect the teasing of his jock buddies and affirm his manhood, Zack bets that he can take any girl in school and make her the prom queen simply by dating her. Suddenly he finds himself wooing Laney (Rachel Leigh Cook), an artistic and introverted "dork" who resists his attention. After he earns her friendship and orders her a make-over, Zack falls for her and (surprise, surprise) antics ensue right up to the climactic night of the prom.
So the plot seems appropriately cheesy and the cast is definately cute. Moreover, the cast is definately talented. Prinze has proven himself before in art house (The house of Yes) and bigger budget (I know what you did last summer) fare. Cook is the nymphet who beats the crap out of a kitchen in that oh-so-cool commercial for National Drug Association. Paul Walker is playing the role that he always plays and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (the girlfriend) was one of the best things in Halloween 20. The supporting cast, which includes Matthew Lillard, Anna Paquin, Usher, the afore-mentioned DuVall, Lil Kim, and those 2 wacky boys from "The Mighty" (Kieren and Elden) is good stuff. So why does the movie suck? It's irresponsible. The plot is more than adequate and the cast is more than capable, but what wound up onscreen is a confusing mishmash of what could have been a cute film. It feels like there are entire chunks of the story that are missing, and to compensate, a gross-out scene involving pubes on pizza and a prom floor dance sequence have been thrown in. This flick is rife with cliches (Walker brags about his plans to get laid on prom night, and Prinze jumps at him yelling "Don't you touch her!") and the characters have too much fleshing (Prinze's character doesn't know what to do about college, Cook's is dealing with bitchy art students and the aftermath of her mom's death).
Whatever happened to this picture must have gone down after the script was greenlit. I'll bet that the original is a lot more fun to read than the result was to watch.
Plain old horrible films are easier to swallow than the bad ones that clearly once held some promise. I don;t think "she's All That" fails as a result of the cast at all, frankly, its a misfortune that what could have been a nice launch has been crippled by some idiot in either the director's or editor's chair. What the hell are Bob and Harvey thinking???
Okay, end of rant. Better luck to us all next time ... can't hardly wait for "Cruel Intentions" and "Election" ...
Daphmax
