Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Like "Scary Movie" and "Airplane" before it, this
film skewers a genre of films almost flawlessly. I'm
not saying that all the jokes work, but much of the
humor is right on the mark and often the spoof acts
as homage to some of our favorite film. It's often funny
and gives the warm fuzzy.
The kids here go to John Hughes High School and
the football field is at Harry Dean Stadium (Get it?).
Also, at least 3 films of Hughes' are referenced here,
"Pretty in Pink," "Breakfast Club" and "16 Candles."
Also, at least 2 actors from these monumental 80's teen
flicks are present. One is Paul Gleason. The Vice Principal
from "the Breakfast Club" is seen extensively in the
preview trailer. The other I won't reveal here because
it is too cool a surprise.
Other recent teen flicks are filleted and some
knowledge of them is necessary to get the jokes. "She's
All That," "Bring It On," "American Pie," "American
Beauty," "Varsity Blues," "Rudy," "Lucas," "Cruel Intentions,"
are among the most obvious.
Running off the jag of recent teen flicks that
were considered "gross-out" comedies, the film uses
scat, piss, and fart humor incessantly as well as referencing
masturbation, incest, virginity, pubescence, oral and
anal sex, sex with food, and other numerous sexual deviance.
The film seems particularly interesting in its teenage
boys' libidos and in alluding to shitting on someone's
chest. often it seems like a 14 year old boy wrote this
script. Teenage boys will definitely delight in the
film's sick and perverse sexual humor as well as it's
numerous tits. There's at least 6 bare tits in this
film. Boy, will they need a mop in the back row on Friday
night at the megaplex after this one!
The highlight of the film is a musical number before
the prerequisite prom climax that (ala "Magnolia?")
all of the characters take part in. It's really clever
and funny. And it's the one truly unique aspect of the
film that isn't seemingly just spoof per se.
Funny? Yes it is. And, as with many comedy spoofs,
the best laughs often come from the looping of the film.
For those unenlightened, "looping" is the voices dubbed
onto the film in post-production. These are comments
made by persons off camera and in many films, looping
is simply crowd noise, background nose, etc... Here,
the looping often includes a really funny off-the-cuff
remark that will make you laugh out loud.
Another funny thing is the signage in the film.
There's tons of obvious stuff, but some of it is kinda
subdued and amusing to those who catch it. This will
make the DVD extremely fun to pause and stop-motion
as there must be 20 places where something flew by too
quickly in the theater for me to catch.
Finally, mention must be made of the interesting
soundtrack which has numerous covers of 80's alt_pop
songs by new and unknown bands. My fave was a cover
of Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" (from "Fast Times
at Ridgemont High") but Modern English's "I Melt with
You" (from "Valley Girl") and OMD's "If You Leave" (from
"P in P") also stood out.
If you love teen films, especially Hughes stuff,
you gotta see this spoof. It's worth it and it's funny.
And the cameos Hilarious.
Note:
With Sam Huntington (spoofing Chris Klien) Randy
Quaid, Jaime Pressley, Lacey Chabert, Mia Kirshner,
and Samm Levine.
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