The Perfect Score

Those expecting cinematic events like the Godfather or Saving Private Ryan.

Stop reading this.

Those expecting crude teen humor films featuring underage drinking and nudity, such as Road Trip and Varsity Blues.

Stop reading this.

But those of you looking for a teen movie full of the typical adolescent hinjinx and cheap laughs.

Start reading this.

The Perfect Score won't light up the box office or have everyone waiting day after day for its release onto DVD.

Instead, it's a movie targeted towards middle schoolers, high schoolers, and most college students.

Typically good kids under rough circumstances, most of us who have taken the SATs remember the pain in the arse they were. Throw in two very attractive, and talented acting-capable, girls...two guys and a jock...and an Asian pothead quick with one liners...

and you got a pretty solid movie.

While the Perfect Score won't give you everything you want, I feel that it will make you just happy enough that you caught the showing.

So if you're looking for a movie to sit back and relax too...and perhaps vicariously wonder if you could steal the answers to the SAT...check out the movie.

I enjoyed it, and chances are if you kept on reading this post.

You will too.

Despite its relatable subject matter, The Perfect Score delivers a less than perfect portrayal of the well-documented issue of standardized tests. Yes, the film takes a more light-hearted approach on purpose (and kudos to the Matrix reference scene), but it feels like the film is dancing in the shallow end of a very deep body of water. There are a number of hot topics that are quickly glossed over, and the moral of the story becomes glaringly obvious way too early.

All that being said, there are a few chuckles and it's fun to see some A-list celebs when they were younger. You'll just need to look past the cheesy romance, sub-par acting, and unrealistic plot points to get the most out of it. Any secret hopes you have that this is a high school version Ocean's Eleven movie should be dampered.

Verdict: Watch.

"The Perfect Score" aspires to be like a John Hughes film (Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc.) but falls short...way short. Telling of six High School seniors who, faced with having to take the SAT's, decide to steal the answers to the test's questions only to have epiphanies go off like flash bulbs as they just sort of realize that crime doesn't pay and careers don't either when one has cheat their way to the top. The result is an awkward and stiff dramedy fusion of cliches and stereotypes sorely lacking in the creativity, imagination, and inspiration which teen flick maestro Hughes brought to his hit films. Passable and forgettable stuff only a teen could love. Adults might want to check out the much more provocative TV flick "Cheaters 2000" instead. (C)

Imagine, you failed your SAT test and your environment is pushing you so hard that you HAVE to pass for the retest. But, you're just not good enough. Or that the university you would like to go to requires a score that is way-beyond your capabilities.

What would you do? And if you decide to cheat, would you keep it a secret or would you share it with some people? In this movie, the secret leaks out and more people get involved in the plan: to steal the answers.

The diversity of characters in this movie often leads to funny situations or strange conversations.

The movie itself is a little predictable, but it stays nice. I would say, 7 out of 10.

Well, not the ENTIRE reason to see this film... but she was certainly the highlight for me. Why? Frankly because I didn't even know who she was until I saw this film (sad, considering her other work is extremely interesting).

At any rate, the plot is simple; high school students pressured by life decisions plan to steal the S.A.T. (which has various definitions assigned to it throughout the movie). It becomes an elaborate scheme and many people get caught up in it.

Including shinning Erika Christensen (from SWIMFAN and TRAFFIC).

There's the obvious collection of somewhat stereotypical kids (a stoner, a brain, two slackers- one more academically charged than the audience would like to believe).

At any rate, this movie plays well.

I actually loved it!

I supposed it was a bit more personal for me since my PSAT and S.A.T. were HELL!!!!!! And I sunk my teeth depe into a movie that blasted these types of standardized tests and the implications they hold (sexism, racism, placism, all of which are true of standardized tests and the current education system in general, sad to me... and me on the brink of being an English professor).

At any rate, the bottom line is this: You HAVE to admire a movie where one of the "heroes" of the film is a stoner who's so ultra-smart among his peers that he excells past all of them while convincing everyone around him that he's borderline stupid. Only Mtv could produce such a character, or such a film.

I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

And watch Johansson... She's gonna be a star if her smoldering performance here is any indication! She plays the best goth/metal/rebellious/finger-to-the-system/badgirl I've seen in film today...