Ari Sandel
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Connections, in both directions
The film makes an early reference to The Breakfast Club, and we can feel it desperately seeking to fall in the same iconic territory.
“The DUFF” has the decency to acknowledge its roots in the great John Hughes teen movies of the 1980s—even beginning by referencing the five high school types stuck serving Saturday detention together in “ The Breakfast Club ,” which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Adapted from a novel by Kody Keplinger, whose website says that she wrote the book as a senior in high school, “The DUFF” begins, in an apparent nod to “The Breakfast Club,” by informing us that teenage stereotypes have changed: “Jocks play video games, princesses are on antidepressants.”
In fact, there are specific references to things like The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles all throughout the movie.
“The DUFF” references predecessors like “The Breakfast Club” and “Can’t Hardly Wait” with wit and humor.
The first three quotes are all lifted from reviews of The Breakfast Club.
The DUFF, adapted from Kody Keplinger’s 2011 YA novel of the same name, proceeds along the same broad path as countless high-school comedies before it—the echoes of Easy A and Mean Girls in particular are audible throughout the film—without a lot to distinguish it besides its title and a hyperactive, vlogger-influenced visual style that marks it as an artifact of the mid-2010s as strongly as its social-media obsession does.
While not as edgy as Mean Girls, The DUFF may have one of the more memorable headlining performances from Whitman, who many may recall as the forgettable Ann Veal on Arrested Development.
You won’t find much insight into teenage social circles — not that you were looking for it anyway — in this predictable comedy in the Mean Girls vein in which the title is a acronym for Designated Ugly Fat Friend.
While you wouldn’t put it in the same class as the similarly-themed (and still superb) Mean Girls - or even the under-rated Easy A - this film has its heart in the right place, and a strong cast that covers for most weaknesses.
The plot sounds an awful lot like She’s All That, Can’t Buy Me Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, or even Some Kind of Wonderful, and it would be easy to dismiss sight unseen The DUFF as a copycat/rip-off of high school coming-of-age films from decades past.
While it's neither as biting as "Mean Girls" nor as sweetly referential as "Easy A," the earnest and sometimes amusing "The DUFF" is a fine addition to the canon.
But it does so within the well-defined beats of a personal-transformation narrative, à la She’s All That, and the combination results in a muddied, if arguably more realistic than average, message.
The plot sounds an awful lot like She’s All That, Can’t Buy Me Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, or even Some Kind of Wonderful, and it would be easy to dismiss sight unseen The DUFF as a copycat/rip-off of high school coming-of-age films from decades past.
It's essentially a combination of various John Hughes movies with a sprinkle of "She's All That."
I recently saw the movie The DUFF, a teen relationship comedy in the vein of She’s All That.
Too bad, it never figures out its own identity, playing dumpy gatekeeper to the likes of Some Kind of Wonderful and She’s All That .
There’s a good message buried in all of this, even if it feels like a rehash of “Mean Girls,” “She’s All That” or any number of high school films from the last four decades.
There hasn’t been a teen film worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as John Hughes’ classic coming of age movies since 2010’s Easy A…that is, until 2015’s The DUFF.
The DUFF, adapted from Kody Keplinger’s 2011 YA novel of the same name, proceeds along the same broad path as countless high-school comedies before it—the echoes of Easy A and Mean Girls in particular are audible throughout the film—without a lot to distinguish it besides its title and a hyperactive, vlogger-influenced visual style that marks it as an artifact of the mid-2010s as strongly as its social-media obsession does.
While you wouldn’t put it in the same class as the similarly-themed (and still superb) Mean Girls - or even the under-rated Easy A - this film has its heart in the right place, and a strong cast that covers for most weaknesses.
While it's neither as biting as "Mean Girls" nor as sweetly referential as "Easy A," the earnest and sometimes amusing "The DUFF" is a fine addition to the canon.
Like Emma Stone’s Olive Penderghast in Easy A (a film to which The DUFF owes some major credit), Bianca is a movie character aware of movie characters.
What works, though, we’ve seen before, and fairly recently in Emma Stone’s Easy A , from which Ari Sendel’s film cribs more than a few scenes.
The plot sounds an awful lot like She’s All That, Can’t Buy Me Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, or even Some Kind of Wonderful, and it would be easy to dismiss sight unseen The DUFF as a copycat/rip-off of high school coming-of-age films from decades past.
Too bad, it never figures out its own identity, playing dumpy gatekeeper to the likes of Some Kind of Wonderful and She’s All That .
It should come as no surprise that things take a turn towards She's All That or Some Kind of Wonderful by having Wesley teach Bianca how not to be perceived as the DUFF, and hopefully win the heart of soulful guitarist Taylor (Nick Eversman).
And, if the film owes its everything to "Sixteen Candles," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Can't Buy Me Love," "She's All That," "10 Things I Hate About You," and " Mean Girls " (just to name a few), at least its story stays true to its irrepressible heroine without feeling the need to change her.
The premise seems ripped from Richard Curtis' "About Time" — it's a millennial "Groundhog Day" meets "The Butterfly Effect."
Though it borrows heavily from Groundhog’s Day, Back to the Future, Just Friends, and even About Time, this time travel war on the friend zone has a handful of good ideas of its own.
The trailer and premise of this movie made me wary, as they’re reminiscent of About Time’s “time travel is a good way to get laid and fall in love” ethos.
Directed by Ari Sandel and written by John Whittington, this rom-com has comparable elements to About Time (yes, Hollywood is still doing time-travel), but lacks in its sincerity.
Netflix’s latest, When We First Met, takes all the ick we ignored in About Time and Groundhog Day and distills it into a potent combination of the worst parts of Groundhog Day crossed with Insert Friend Zone Movie Here.
In fact, there are specific references to things like The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles all throughout the movie.
And, if the film owes its everything to "Sixteen Candles," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Can't Buy Me Love," "She's All That," "10 Things I Hate About You," and " Mean Girls " (just to name a few), at least its story stays true to its irrepressible heroine without feeling the need to change her.
While "The DUFF" whiffs on the comedy front more often than it succeeds and is likely not destined to become the "Sixteen Candles" for a new generation, it is eminently watchable and even a bit touching.
The plot sounds an awful lot like She’s All That, Can’t Buy Me Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, or even Some Kind of Wonderful, and it would be easy to dismiss sight unseen The DUFF as a copycat/rip-off of high school coming-of-age films from decades past.
Josh Cagan’s script, with its tight pace and pleasing self-awareness, recalls another classic teen comedy: 10 Things I Hate About You.
At twenty-six, she’d only seem like a real teenager at the high-school from 10 Things I Hate About You, and even with the over-alls and surrounded by the glamorous Stepford teens, Whitman can’t pull off the “fat” or “ugly” part of her DUFF crucible.
And, if the film owes its everything to "Sixteen Candles," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Can't Buy Me Love," "She's All That," "10 Things I Hate About You," and " Mean Girls " (just to name a few), at least its story stays true to its irrepressible heroine without feeling the need to change her.
Now and then you find a film such as "10 Things I Hate About You" (thank you, William Shakespeare ) or "Easy A" (thumbs up, Nathaniel Hawthorne) that goes beyond and messes, profitably, with the usual images, body or otherwise.
A humor-filled drama for the current high school crowd – since The Duff makes timely points about self-love, body image, and modern relationships but falls short of becoming a teen drama classic (e.g., Easy A, She’s All That, and 10 Things I Hate About You).
As the none-too-bright but essentially good-hearted Wesley, Robbie Amell channels the rakish twinkle of “Risky Business”-era Tom Cruise.
The plot sounds an awful lot like She’s All That, Can’t Buy Me Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, or even Some Kind of Wonderful, and it would be easy to dismiss sight unseen The DUFF as a copycat/rip-off of high school coming-of-age films from decades past.
And, if the film owes its everything to "Sixteen Candles," "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Can't Buy Me Love," "She's All That," "10 Things I Hate About You," and " Mean Girls " (just to name a few), at least its story stays true to its irrepressible heroine without feeling the need to change her.
On its face, with the popular guy teaching the misfit girl how to fit in, it's like "Can't Buy Me Love" in reverse.
Speaking of nostalgia, that initial meeting takes place at a Halloween party where Avery’s dressed as Dottie from “A League of Their Own” and Noah is Garth from a movie I shouldn’t have to name so I won’t.
She was Geena Davis in “A League of Their Own.”
You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
Directed by Dennis Dugan
influenced by West Bank Story (2005)
Plot
That said, "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," while its structure is undisciplined and its story (scripted by Sandler, Judd Apatow and Robert 'Triumph the Insult Comic Dog' Smigel) borrowed from everything from "Barbershop 2" to the 2006 Live Action Short nominee "West Bank Story," has some laugh out loud moments and enough routing interest in Sandler's Zohan to make it marginally recommendable.
Instead of drawing inspiration from such romantic comedies as "Sleepless in Seattle" or "You've Got Mail," it recycles the major plot catalyst of "Big."
Instead of drawing inspiration from such romantic comedies as "Sleepless in Seattle" or "You've Got Mail," it recycles the major plot catalyst of "Big."
The 26-year-old already has 119 IMDb credits to her name, breaking out in the mid-1990s with small turns as George Clooney and Bill Pullman’s daughter in One Fine Day and Independence Day, respectively.
Whitman, who got her start early on playing the Prez’s daughter in Independence Day , has done some great if undistinguished work over the past few years, takes The DUFF by the horns, ably arguing for her right to leading lady status.
It’s satisfying to see an industry staple like Whitman (who played President Whitmore’s daughter in Independence Day) get deserved time in the spotlight but Amell steals nearly every scene – transitioning Wesley from caricature to a semi-layered male counterpoint for Bianca.
The influences are telegraphed, starting with "Mean Girls" (the whole movie, from Bella's voiceovers to the mean girl cabal to the sensible advice-giving teacher to the superhot boyfriend-in-waiting) and moving on to "Heathers" (minus the satire, and the murders), "Say Anything" (crush on clueless pretty boy), and "Pretty in Pink" ("If somebody doesn't believe in me, I can't believe in them!").
“The DUFF” references predecessors like “The Breakfast Club” and “Can’t Hardly Wait” with wit and humor.
The chemistry she shares with Robbie Amell (2005's " Cheaper by the Dozen 2 "), as Wes, is always there; even when the two are sparring, there is an unspoken connection pulling them closer.
And even the clichés that aren’t avoided don’t crash the movie; Bianca’s jock neighbor pal Wesley may be played by an actor (Robbie Amell: Cheaper by the Dozen 2 ) who is long past high school and looks it, but this isn’t fatal.
The point is that viewers identify with Bianca, who’s actually a pretty cool girl (shout out to the Shock Waves poster on her bedroom wall), and whose relatability is buoyed by the teen-movie staple of extensive first-person narration.
After The DUFF straight-up steals a scene from Pretty in Pink — Bianca attends the homecoming dance stag and wearing a hand-sewn dress — it becomes eye-rollingly preachy.
It'll have to settle for "Pretty in Pink," with worse music and a more upbeat attitude.
The set-up (from Kody Keplinger’s novel) is oddly unconvincing (is this Duff-stuff really even a thing?), but Whitman goes with it in engaging post-Pretty in Pink fashion, racking up a few outsider laughs along the way.