Not Another Teen Movie Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)May 24th, 2002
NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE (2001)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
May 23rd, 2002
RATING: Two stars
One mention I will make of teen movies since the inexplicable success of "She's All That" is that they were all recycled from Hollywood romances of the past that have since been deemed old-fashioned and outdated. But if any filmmaker paid the slightest attention from anything starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, it is that they were all self-reflective of John Hughes teenage comedies from the 1980's. They were in on the joke yet managed to take themselves seriously, as if we cared. "Not Another Teen Movie" mocks all the popular teen movies from the 80's and 90's. Some jokes hit but many miss, yet there are some occasional laughs.
The plot is a direct steal from "She's All That," which stole its plot from "My Fair Lady" which of course lifted its ideas from "Pygmalion." Anyways, we have the Rachael Leigh Cook lookalike, Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh), the supposedly ugly duckling who is unknowingly part of a bet involving the prom. The popular jock in the Freddie Prinze mode is Jake (Chris Evans). So that is all there is to it. All the shenanigans take place at John Hughes High School. We have an Anthony Michael Hall lookalike who wants to get laid at graduation, even though he and his pals are freshmen. We have Jake's incestual sister (Mia Kirshner), who has a plan a'la "Cruel Intentions." And there are gross-out gags. Lots of them. Too many of them, including one unnecessary toilet sequence that is perhaps as gross as anything you might see in "American Pie" or "There's Something About Mary." And another involves a cringe-inducing scene involving kissing and tonguing between two female students, one of whom is far more mature than the other.
Well, here is the list of movies that serve as homage or as just plain rip-off material. We have "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," "Almost Famous," "Sixteen Candles," "Risky Business," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "American Pie," "American Beauty," "Bring It On," and "Election." Of course, there are so many more. The funniest bit is the detention sequence involving the Anthony Michael Hall character aping Judd Nelson's mannerisms perfectly from "The Breakfast Club" with a nice visit from Paul Gleason as Richard Vernon, reprising his role from that film and wearing practically the same clothes. It is laugh-out-loud funny. I also liked a scene involving Jake and his father (Lyman Ward, Ferris Bueller's dad) - it may make one uneasy but it is original and tastefully done. And who can not laugh at lovely and pouty Molly Ringwald's surprise cameo!
On the whole, the movie depends too much on gross gags and bodily fluids for jokes - it should have taken a more satirical approach rather than repeating the same exact gags from other movies. "Not Another Teen Movie" forgets to spin its own snappy rhythms - more cleverness and less barfing would have made it special. To mock or goof off on films, you have to play it straight. It was the rule of thumb established by the spoof that made spoofs a household name, "Airplane." "Not Another Teen Movie" is just that - another teen movie.
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