New movie parodies teen films with young brat pack
by Michael Kraft, entertainment editor

    Since the ’80s, Hollywood has been cramming “teen movies” down the throats of the American movie public.

    These films exploit the teen market by presenting them with unbelievable plots, 20-something actors who are WAY too beautiful for real life and fairy tale endings.

    The “Brat Pack” came out of this in the ’80s.

    Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson and others achieved fame with these films.

    Of course, after the ’80s, they promptly dropped off the face of the earth.

    Director/writer John Hughes built his whole career on films such as Pretty In Pink, 16 Candles and The Breakfast Club.

    With the current market saturation, do we really need another teen movie?

    Well, apparently Michael Bender thinks so.

    He wrote the new film Not Another Teen Movie, which, as the title suggests, doesn’t take itself seriously and rips apart all other teen movies with stereotypical characters and scenes.

    The film takes place at John Hughes High, and the plot is a direct rip off of She’s All That, where “Popular Jock” Jake Wyler (Chris Evans) has to transform “Pretty/Ugly Girl” Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh) into the prom queen.

    Janey’s only shortcomings are glasses, a ponytail and paint-covered overalls.

    But after “Handsome Blond Guy” Austin (Eric Christian Olsen) picks her, Jake is fuming, positive that he has a better chance with the school hunchback or the Siamese twins joined at the head.

    The plot is predictable, but the funny moments come when the scenes obviously rip on other movies, like the detention scene that was ripped right out of The Breakfast Club.

    They even got Paul Gleason to revisit his role as Principal Vernon.

    There are some Easter eggs that the audience can spot too, like the name of the cafeteria and the name of the TV repair shop next to the prom.

    The film was acted well, and the young actors obviously knew the films they were ripping on. Thus, the whole film is very tongue-in-cheek.

    The only problem really is the writing. I mean, the film had its moments, and the acting was great, but for the most part, the jokes weren’t funny, just gross.

    There seemed to be an obsession with scatological humor, and the film feels like a long poo-poo joke after a while.

    These jokes are not a huge problem, but the approach was wrong, and the film comes off more like an attempt to shock and repulse rather than an attempt to create laughter.

    Overall, Not Another Teen Movie is pretty good and should be taken in by people who can poke fun at pop-culture and aren’t too easily offended.

    That last part is important.

    If you are the queasy type, or wield the Good Book like a broadsword, you’d better skip this one.