BEFORE: OK, another high school film popping up in the chain - I guess this has been on my list since last August, but I wasn't able to work it in last September, which would have been more appropriate since it's set at the START of a school year. But August was all about connecting the Doc Block to the horror chain, so my options were somewhat limited. We'll just have to trust that the chain knows what it's doing.
Thomas Barbusca carries over from "Luckiest Girl Alive" - hey, if you can get work playing "the weird kid" in high-school movies, good for you. Stay in that lane and make the most of it, bro.
THE PLOT: Four freshmen navigate the terrors of adolescence at their first-ever high school party.
AFTER: Well, if it works, keep doing it, that's for sure - which is why Hollywood keeps remaking "Superbad", if you think about it. "Booksmart" was the female version, and "Good Boys" was the middle school version, now they've just made it again but with four teenage boys instead of three. I guess if you're a pair of brothers that have been working on a TV series for a very long time, and you get the chance to make a movie, you can do a lot worse than remaking "Superbad", only with teens who record everything they do for social media.
There's also a fair bit of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in this film's DNA, notably when the two boys who couldn't get into the big party decide to borrow one's stepfather's fancy car, I got immediate vibes of Ferris and Cameron, so naturally I fully expected the car to be destroyed before the end of the movie - and it was, but in a much different and funnier way. They put a twist on it, besides the fact that it was an electric car, and that was greatly appreciated. Also, remember the prinicipal in "Ferris Bueller" who kept trying to prove Ferris was ditching school and pretending to be sick, and he ended up getting bitten by a dog, beat up by Ferris' sister who thought he was an intruder, and then his car got towed, and he had to ride the bus home - they should have called the film "Ed Rooney's Very Bad Day" or something. Well, there's a teacher like that in this film, but he's not the nemesis of the kids, instead he's a chemistry teacher who tries a bit too hard to be cool and befriend the teenagers, to the point where he shows up at the big teen party at the fancy house, and shows the kids the chemistry behind doing flaming shots and beer bongs. Things go south when he uses alcohol to spit fire as another bad decision/chemistry demonstration, and sets himself on fire. Jumping in the pool saves him, but not before he gets badly burned, and a bunch of his students record his drunken party antics on their phones - yeah, there's just no way THAT can come back and bite him in the ass. Anyway, he ends up burned, drunk and down on his luck, which is what reminded me of Principal Ed Rooney.
The main story here is Benj Nielsen navigating life as an incoming high-school freshman, he's got a crush on his sister's best friend, Bailey, but doesn't know how to make a move on her or find out if she feels the same way about him. The party at Koosh's house seems like it would be a great opportunity, they could share a beer (despite being underage, duh) and maybe dance, from there a make-out session doesn't seem too out of the question. But you know how this goes, if that's the goal then events are going to keep happening that are sure to get in the way. For starters, the tough skater teens that Benj's senior car-pool buddy sold fake Ecstasy to show up at the party, they're looking for a fight, and they think Benj is the chemist behind the drugs. Then another senior messes with Benj and gives him what he thinks is a line of cocaine, but it turns out to be ketamine, and he just sits in silence with the drug slowing him down while the party proceeds at fast speed around him.
Meanwhile, Koosh (who lives in the house with the parents away, where the party is) has been surveying the whole scene with cameras all around the house, and he's picked his mark, a girl that he can pretend to get locked in the spa with when he gives her a tour of the house, and then he offers her a massage and a soak in the hot tub, and things seem to be going great, he seems to have charmed this girl, but then he slips on the wet floor and dislocates his shoulder, which means a trip to the E.R. Karma's a bitch, isn't it, Koosh?
Also meanwhile, the other half of the foursome, Connor and Eddie, are bored because they couldn't get into the party. They decide to take a joyride in Eddie's mother's boyfriend's luxury electric car, but after stopping for ice cream, they decide to swing by the big party, you know, just to see what it's like, a recon mission for the next high-school party they get invited to. Katrina, one of the more popular senior girls, mistakes their car for her Uber, she's totally drunk and gets in the car and wants to be taken home, only she can't quite say her address. But first, a trip to Taco Bell and she eats a bunch of bean burritos, what could possibly go wrong there? Connor and Eddie face a very nasty situation in the back seat, also they still have to get this senior girl cleaned up somehow and back to her home safely, because, you know, they're nice guys. It pays off for them in the end when Katrina finally wakes up and realizes how much they helped her, even if she can't remember any of it.
Lessons are learned, like Koosh learns that locking a girl in your basement might not be the best way to win her affections. Benj learns that he should have just stayed true to himself and not pretended to be something he's not just to win over Bailey. Like, even if that had worked, and Bailey expressed her love for him, then she'd be doing that to the fake Benj, and really, where would that have gotten him? Benj's sister learned that she needed to let her ex-girlfriend go, like once she's dating someone else, she's not going to come back, especially if you keep bugging her about it. She learns she needs to become a better person, and getting a nose job is not useful unless she also changes who she is on the inside. And the chemistry teacher learns why teachers shouldn't party with their students, really, no good can come of it. Mr. Studebaker is still a great character, maybe the funniest and smarmiest one in the film, but only because he's so horribly misguided.
High school will eat you alive, if you let it - but it's also where you set the stage for who you're going to be when you're an adult. Also, it's probably where you'll meet the love of your life, at least until one or both of you go off to college in another city and you won't see each other again until the awkward 10-year reunion. High school is also where you can focus on your studies and gain intelligence, only not so much wisdom. Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes from making mistakes, and the characters in this film make a lot of mistakes. But then, what do you expect? It seems like everybody has to learn about relationships the hard way, by making those mistakes.
I always say, "Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is really a fruit, but wisdom is knowing enough to not put it in a fruit salad."
Directed by Dave Chernin and John Chernin
Also starring Mason Thames, Ali Gallo, Kaitlin Olson (last seen in "Champions"), Isabella Ferreira (last seen in "Joker"), Raphael Alejandro (last heard in "The Wild Robot"), Ramon Reed, Bardia Seiri, Kayvan Shai, Nolan Bateman (last seen in "Fist Fight"), Eric Grooms, Loren Gray, Bobby Cannavale (last seen in "When Trumpets Fade"), Gattlin Griffith (last seen in "Joker: Folie a Deux"), Phillip M. Lawrence, Javion Allen, Steele Stebbins (last seen in "Vacation"), Scott MacArthur (last seen in "The Starling"), Dinora Walcott, Elijah Ocelotzin Espinoza, Stefanie Rons, Devon Weetly, Max Tepper, Sammi-Jack Martincak (last seen in "I Love You Phillip Morris"), Victoria Moroles, Danny T Miller, Anissa Borrego, Kim Hawthorne (last seen in "The Chronicles of Riddick"), Imogen Tear, Talia Bernstein.
RATING: 6 out of 10 red Solo cups
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