The DUFF (2015)
Directed by Ari Sandel
Bianca's universe turns upside down when she learns that her high school refers to her as a ‘DUFF' (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). Hoping to erase that label, she enlists the help of a charming jock and her favorite teacher. Together they'll face the school's mean girl and remind everyone that we are all someone's DUFF… and that's totally fine.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.