Die Highschool-Trickser

I caught this movie on HBO and it quickly became one of my favorites. The Handsome character is so likable and charming he can only be summed up with one phrase: "Dog porn?!?!?". Seriously though, whoever had this movie go straight to TV on USA Network has hopefully been fired. I'm glad it found new life on HBO where it can seriously be appreciated as one of the best high school movies I've ever seen. Perhaps second only to The Breakfast Club and Fast Times. If possible, I recommend taking a glance at your local rental facility to see if this title is available. It gave me a lot of ideas on how to make law school more enjoyable, but fear of the Bar committee made me think otherwise. See it soon.

I first heard about this movie way back in May of 2001 when it was scheduled to get a theatrical release under the title of CHEATERS. The release date was changed and then changed again. A year passed by and for a while, I thought this movie would never see the light of day. Then earlier this month I finally saw the movie [after being retitled CHEATS] when it premiered on Cinemax. I loved every moment of the movie. It combines a perfect balance of comedy and drama that is hard to find in movies these days. The plot concerns four high school students, Handsome [Trevor Fehrman], Sammy [Elden Henson], Victor [Matthew Lawrence], and Applebee [Martin Starr] who cheat their way through school until one day they slip up and as their last year comes to a close, so does their friendship. To give away anymore about the plot would be wrong, but the movie is more about its characters than its plot. All four of the main characters are fully developed and each one of them has characteristics that make them the most likeable group of characters I've seen in a movie in quite some time. I hope New Line Cinema releases this movie to video and DVD since a movie like this is bound to become a cult favorite. ****

I was at a hotel, flipping through the channels when I landed on this. I thought at first it was that new movie, "Cheaters", but low and behold, it was something even better. This movie was so funny, I especially liked all of the ways they came up to cheat with. I showed the movie to one of my teachers, and even they thought the "Song" idea of cheating was rather genius! This movie was Grade A, and I recommend it to anyone.

Just caught this film on Cinemax during a free preview weekend, and I liked it so much I came to IMDb to get a link to the DVD. I was pretty stunned to learn that not only is there no DVD, but according to the info here, the film never even got a theatrical release.

This is difficult to understand, because "Cheats" is one of the funniest high school movies I've ever seen, and is definitely one of the most realistic, in terms of its depiction of high school kids. Even stuff like "American Pie", which by comparison to the average high school movie seems laudably legit in its presentation of high schoolers, seems phony and staged compared to this film.

Perhaps Martin Starr (who, like the other actors, turns in a great performance here) carries a curse that would also explain the first-season cancellation of another very entertaining and realistic high school dramedy, TV series "Freaks and Geeks".

I suppose I'm not the _most_ impartial judge, since like the main characters in this film, I also attended a private high school and despite being very bright, couldn't stand studying or doing homework. I may have even (ulp) practiced my "wicked small" writing skills on one or two occasions. But despite my bias, I have to think just about anyone would enjoy this film (except perhaps hardcore disciplinarians who would object to the fact that the cheaters get away with much of their crime).

So catch "Cheats", if you get the chance. It's the funniest take on cheating (I especially enjoyed the cheaters' jargon, like "mis-sequenced", and "the sick cheat") since MST3K's send-up of Centron's 1952 "mental hygiene" short "Cheating" (from whence the quote in my Summary derives).

Ok the different ideas for cheating is nothing new, but the dialouge in this movie, especially the lines of Handsome Davis, were rediculously funny. This movie has one of the most memorable scenes of any movie i have ever watched (I'LL TAKE IT RIGHT NOW). I definetly think everyone should see this one. Its just hillarious.