The Duff Review
RYAN: This is the new high school rom com starring Mae Whitman who you’ll remember from Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is her star turn and she handles it well. She’s cast as the DUFF which stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend and horrid bullying ensues.
CAROLINE: God I love these high school movies. They always take me back and I can’t get enough of them.
RYAN: This one’s ok but not as good as the iconic ones – Mean Girls, Grease, Pretty in Pink. In contrast to those, The Duff is very derivative and predictable. It completely lacks originality and yet it’s very watchable because the cast is good. And even though you can see what will happen from a mile away, it’s still nice seeing it unfold. And it’s PG-13, so unlike those of us who have seen better films in this genre, the kids today will love it.
CAROLINE: That’s a good point. It’s all in perspective to how you’ve viewed other films that were better or worse.
RYAN: It’s a little more like Easy A than the others but even that was a bit better than this. The Duff is just so unoriginal. But it is very modern – it has full on cyber-bullying, courtesy YouTube and they mention everything else from Pinterest to Twitter. Even the graphics in the film looks like Facebook,
CAROLINE: It’s a sign of the times. How’s the cast?
RYAN: It’s perfect casting but it’s totally typecasting – everyone has a physical type so they’re locked down by that. But Allison Janney as Mae’s mom is, again, a scene stealer. She has the Midas Touch. Every role she touches turns to gold. Bella Thorne is great and Robbie Amell is great too – they’re almost too pretty – it distracts from whether they’re talented or not.
CAROLINE: So it’s very cliche, huh?
RYAN: Beyond – The good girl needs to be made over to get the guy. It’s Grease and all the others… There is a really great message in the film by the end of the movie, regardless of whether it will help any of the kids who need to hear it is another thing, but’s it’s valiantly there.
CAROLINE: I just love these high school movies. I was really looking forward to your thoughts.
RYAN: It’s basically a chick flick from the high school set. It’s shows the perils of abusing social networking. ANd I’m sorry – I was bullied horribly as a child in the 80s before any of this technology existed. And I think some of what can happen today is worse because it can go viral and last forever. And that’s actually a big problem I had with this movie – Mae’s character is bullied with one of the worst things that could happen to a student and she doesn’t break down, doesn’t leave school that day. Please. Whenever I was bullied and it got out of control, I bolted from school. I don’t buy any 17 year old is that brave.
CAROLINE: So it took you back?
RYAN: Totally. It’s good for that – the clicks, the Homecoming dance, the first crush – who can’t relate to those things? This movie brought back a lot of memories. It’s not really a movie that adults will love because it’s so much just ripping off from those other movies but if you’re in the target audience, you’ll dig it.
Nathan February 23, 2015
And to the bottom of the streaming movie queue it goes!