There are so many uncanny similarities between JTMD and other teen flicks. Firstly, the poster bears a striking resemblance to that of 10 Things I Hate About You, which is one of my favourite teen flicks. Next the story premise is almost exactly the same as Mean Girls - new girl loses her identity in new school and becomes mean but reverts to her nice-girl persona at the end. Not that the formula of copying from proven successes doesn't work; it does, but it doesn't score high on originality for me. Faithful followers of teen flicks can fill in the rest.A few things I did like about JTMD: one - the eye candy in the form of Arielle Kebbel and Sophia Bush although they were little more than cardboard characters; two - John Tucker's resilience and the way he was cast with a certain irresistability such that one is inevitably drawn to him; three - the modest ambition of the film in not trying to be too clever or rely on cheap dumb antics to get laughs and therefore succeeding in being very entertaining. Even it's message of being true to yourself wasn't too pushy, which I liked.
There isn't a lot that's new or breakthrough or truly refreshing about JTMD but there are a lot of genuinely entertaining moments that do not seem contrived at all. While neither Kate nor John are properly fleshed out, they rise enough above being simply caricatures or stereoypes for one to quite like them. It's not particularly memorable, but it's a good alternative to, say, catching 10 Things for like the dozenth time.
<--- Think you've seen this before?
I'm not surprised. --->
No comments:
Post a Comment