From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a quick spoiler free film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Not Another Teen Movie released in 2001.
Starring:
Chyler Leigh, Jaime Pressly, Chris Evans
Directed by:
Joel Gallen
Genre:
Comedy
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
R
Budget:
$15,000,000 (estimated)
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
5.7
The Synopsis is:
Simply put, this film is a parody of teen movies.
The film opens with a fantastic American Pie homage featuring the scene where the main protagonist’s parents barge into his room while he’s (in this case, she’s)… doing something very private.
It’s hilariously done, but the laughs continue and you begin to notice the many references to teen movies that pop up along the way. The scenes and situations are funny, but it makes it doubly amusing if you actually know film and their scenes being parodied.
The main film this parodies is She's All That released in 1999 where the main character, Lainey (in this case it’s Janey) gets the attention of the school’s jock, in this movie he is Jake.
What she doesn’t know is that he has a bet going that he can transform her into a popular girl at school. There are scenes that nearly play out exactly like those in She’s All That, but it is sure to make fun of the premise in a more exaggerated form.
For example, the jock is made to transform a girl who is already gorgeous. People seem to be blind to this just because she wears overalls, glasses, and a ponytail. Removing those three items seems to magically transform the wearer into a jaw dropping hottie.
The film even makes fun of the slow motions staircase reveal notorious in so many teen movies of the 1990’s.
The school that the film is based in is John Hughes high school, named after John Hughes responsible for writing and directing many teen movies in the 1980’s.
The next film that the film heavily parodies is Varsity Blues released in 1999, even using the actor Ron Lester who actually plays Reggie Ray in this movie spoofing his role of Billy Bob in Varsity Blues.
Amanda Becker represents Amanda Beckett from Can't Hardly Wait (1998). The Character of Mitch Briggs is hopelessly in love with her, acting as a mix between Preston Meyers from that movie, Anthony Michael Hall type character, and in a fantastic scene paying homage to the Breakfast Club released in 1985, Cody McMains playing Mitch has an incredible likeness to Judd Nelson. It was also great seeing Paul Gleason hilariously cameo in that scene.
Speaking of cameos, we have a great one from Mr T. for a hilarious inspiring speech, Melissa Joan Hart sharing her wisdom on the art of the slow clap, Randy Quaid hilariously doing his Randy Quaid thing, and Molly Ringwald schooling the lovers on the teen movie tropes that aren’t realistic.
Of the many movies parodied, are Never Been Kissed (1999) where an older female newspaper reporter enrolls in high school as part of research for a story. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) where a guy is foolishly trusted by his parents. Cruel Intentions (1999) where a sister is inappropriately after her brother. Grease (1978) where the whole school is breaks out into song and dance.
There are flaws in the movie is of course, like most comedies, when some jokes go too far that it needlessly insult conjoined twins and albinos, for example. Not Cool!
And though, there is the token black guy trope that borders on offensive at times. Don’t get me wrong some of the moments are really funny. It does satirize the stereotype well but it beats you over the head with maybe one or two jokes too many.
For those reasons, this film will have a problem standing the test of time.
There is some gross humor, which I didn’t have a problem with. But for some people it may be a little much. There's some sensitive subjects too dealing with a sister that has the hots for her brother. It’s pretty cringey, but the way it’s played some people might find it hilarious. I did.
In fact there are a slew of cringey comedy moments featuring a fantastic performance by Mia Kirshner as Jake’s promiscuously insane sister Catherine Wyler. Wow, she really shines in this.
But on a whole the film does stick to the teen movie formula, just enough to tie all of the jokes together so that it doesn’t entirely feel like a body of sketches strung together without a plot. It’s surprisingly well done.
One of my favorite jokes revolves around the slow clap that is threaded through the film so when you finally get to the end of the film there is a sweet pay off for the audience.
In spite of a few moments of bad taste, I feel as if this movie was written with so much love for the original content infusing the film with delightful nostalgic music of teen movies from yesterday, fun memorable performances, and a pretty decent story to tie it all up like a bow.
My Rating:
7.2
That sums up my quick spoiler free review. This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
Take care movie lovers! I'm off to the next review!
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I just discovered your movie reviews on YouTube and I love them!! Please don't stop. I guess your blog site is the only way to submit a comment. I wish it were easier, but I understand that it's not always fun to be subject to judgmental people. Good luck, and please don't stop!
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