Not Another Teen Movie (2001)

Yeah, I can get drunk and watch stupid comedies, so what? Don't act surprised, you already know I think BASEketball is one of the funniest movies ever. I sat down with a good buddy to watch Not Another Teen Movie, which I hadn't seen in years and even then only highly edited on cable. In the vein of all those other movie parodies, it takes various stereotypes from teen comedies and messes around with their characters, exposing the stupidity and predictability of these kinds of movies. She's All That, Cruel Intentions, Can't Hardly Wait, and especially John Hughes films are the main ones drawn upon for the overarching story. It's pretty much on target. You've got Janey (Chyler Leigh), the artsy rebel with glasses who lives with her single alcoholic dad and annoying younger brother. She's got a dorky best friend, Ricky (Eric Jungmann), who completely dotes on her but she doesn't realize he's in love with her.

Jake (Chris Evans), the popular football player who's being pressured by his dad to go to Princeton, makes a bet with asshole blonde preppy Austin (Eric Christian Olsen) that he can make any girl prom queen, after girlfriend and head cheerleader Priscilla (Jamie Pressly) breaks up with him. They pick Janey as the biggest challenge for her "glasses, ponytail, and paint-stained overalls". Jake's beautiful and cold sister Catherine (Mia Kirshner), who wants him in the weirdest way, helps him out but if he loses the bet he has to sleep with her. Meanwhile, Janey's brother Mitch (Cody McMains) and his dorky pals are dead-set on getting laid for the first time. He specifically has his eye on the quiet and idolized Amanda Becker (Lacey Chabert), who was recently dumped. These stories and more are explored in pretty ridiculous, but often incredibly true-to-their-roots ways.

It's a bit convoluted, because the filmmakers wanted to fit in so many different stereotypes and specific character references, but generally I think Not Another Teen Movie got it right. There's the token black guy who only serves the purpose of saying "That is whack!" even though he tries to assert his independent personality. There's a non-specifically foreign exchange student who is (literally) only seen as a sexy body. There's a 60-something-year-old reporter posing as a high school student. There's a cheer-off, a makeover, a dramatic airport scene, awkward sexual moments, and even a musical number. I love the exaggeration of everything, and the great appearances from actors who were in some of the movies being parodied (Jamie Pressly was in Can't Hardly Wait, Cody McMains was the little brother in Bring it On, and of course John Hughes darling Molly Ringwald has one of my favorite cameos ever).

I think it does a good job bringing to light how stupid a lot of these stereotypes really are. The "ew that girl with glasses?" remark gets me every time, even though it's sadly still quite true that a female character in a movie cannot be considered traditionally pretty whilst wearing glasses. Sigh, I'll never be a big star! And there are a lot of little things in the background- often on printed signs- that are really great if you catch them. Not Another Teen Movie's main failing is that it tries to do too much, and include too many references and story lines, that it sometimes feels more like a string of parodies than one cohesive one. It also gets overly lewd at parts, but hey, whatever, it knows its audience, and it's not like regular teen comedies aren't over-sexed anyway. Overall it's an entertaining, irreverent look at how comedies treat high school students, and it's pretty funny, but not amazing. It helps if you've seen the bulk of the films being parodied, though. As I realize I have seen almost every single fluffy teen film they referenced (except American Pie).

3.5/5