MY SUPER PSYCHO SWEET 16 (a review)

MY SUPER PSYCHO SWEET 16 (a review)

A teen slasher movie made by and for MTV.

The story: a guy starts killing people in a roller rink. Years later, the daughter of that guy is a school outcast, but then the hottest guy in school starts to kiles her. Meanwhile the bitchy, pretty, popular girl decides to hold her sweet sixteen party at the roller rink where all those people were killed. The hot guy wants to be with the outcast, but before their first date he has to go the bitchy girl's sweet sixteen party, so the outcast girl decides to crash it. Except, what do you know, her father is back and he starts killing people again.

Was it good?

Kind of. I mean, as a horror movie is sucked. Boring, predictable...almost laughably bad. But as a teen movie it wasn't that bad. It got the feel of the teens right for the most part and the dialog was definitely a step above. I could see where the script might have been a really good read to get the attention of MTV. And it was interesting to see their take on a lot of elements (the outcast girl wanted to fit it, her romance with the popular guy, the bitchy girl wanting to get the popular guy back, etc) that I have been trying to work on in one of my scripts. So it's a mixed bad -- there was enough for me to be willing to check out the sequel, but not enough that I would recommend it in general.

*** AVOID ***

MILF

MILF

Once the word was made famous in AMERICAN PIE, it was only a matter of time before a teen sex comedyw ith this title came out.

The story: a couple hopeless college guys realize they can get easy sex by hooking up with older women...usually the divorced moms of the friends.

Was it good?

Not really. It wasn't bad. I mean, it's a teen sex comedy and they throw in plenty of sex, so it works on that level. However, most of these t-s-c's these days pair the sex romps with some outrageous comedy and a nice character arc. Here there's nothing like that. There are some attempts at comedy, but nothing really gets laughs. And if there was a character arc I missed it. So is it good...well, no...but it's a pretty harmless sex comedy. I might have even given it a slight rental, except there are just plenty of other t-s-c's out there.

*** AVOID ***

WILD CHERRY (2009) (a review)

WILD CHERRY (2009) (a review)

A high school comedy about a group trying to lose their virginity, except it's from the girl's point of view. Some interesting stuff and some not so interesting. Stars Tania Raymonde (Alex on Lost), Rumer Willis and Kristin Cavallari. Also Rob Scheider as a dad.

The story: three high school seniors who are still virgins find out their football boyfriends are only dating them to put them in a bang book and decide to get back at them

Was it good?

Um, kind of yeah. It isn't all good. Some of this movie is horrible. Like the football game which looks like about five guys and no fans and is one of the most Ed Wood things I've ever seen. Also, the idea of these guys and the bang book (you have to have sex with the girls or the football team will be bad) doesn't make sense. Also, if the football team is so bad then why would the girls like these guys anyway. And the whole part with the girls finding the book and trying to get back at the guys, etc, was all pretty dumb.

So how was it still (a little) good? Well, the movie does one interesting thing -- it takes a lot of time to talk about sex and a lot of it is done in a way that actually feels honest. One of the girls is making a doc about sex and interviewing students, so you get clips of people talking about their first time, was it good, how did it happen, etc. The other thing is that it focuses on these three girls and shows them in a way that you don't see that often -- girls who want sex. They might have the wrong idea (that the first time will be the most romantic night ever) or they might go about things wrong, but focusing on young girls' curiousity and yearning and perceptions of sex is something that I'm not sure I've seen before, and certainly never seen in a way that felt quite as honest and matter of fact as this.

It's a shame the movie doesn't do a better job with story -- both in avoiding a lot of the stupid elements of the film and in actually trying to have something to say about girls and sex (or something to say to girls about sex) that isn't empty or cliche. If it had done that it really could have actually been something special. As it is there was enough to recommend it (slightly), but with lots of caviats and only to people who think a version of American Pie from a girl's POV might be interesting.

*** SLIGHT RECOMMEND (as an American Pie from a girl's POV) ****