Honor Society

This is a much better movie than I thought it would be. I started watching it just to kill time before bedtime, streaming on Prime, but Angourie Rice is so good as Honor Rose that I got immersed in it.

It is about a group of high school students, mostly about the four top seniors who are being evaluated for a nomination to Harvard. Honor wants it really badly, she pretty well knows who the other three are, so she sets about to systematically detract them from their studies with important midterms coming up.

While her plan is working she also learns more about each one of them and unwittingly helps them achieve things that were lacking. A side story is one of her competitors writing a play and having it produced by the senior class. The underlying message is to be your best self that you can be and care about others.

Good movie. Did I mention how good Angourie Rice is in the role of Honor Rose?

Ignore the negative reviews and give this movie a chance.

Yes, you've seen the "popular kid befriends nerd to manipulate them for the benefit of the popular kid only to experience a change of heart" movie before.

But you've never seen it done like this.

Angourie Rice - a criminally underutilized and under-appreciated actress - gets to shine in this role. The breaking of the 4th wall to talk directly to the audience throughout the film and keep the viewer on the "inside" of Honor's less than honorable plan is a fun twist and great storytelling mechanism.

The big twist at the end was also unexpected - I mean, you know SOMETHING was coming but I don't think many saw that coming.

Is this an award winning, groundbreaking film?

No - but it takes a tried and true formula of coming of age/romcom movies we have seen for decades - and comes at it from a different angle, with a slightly different outcome than we've seen before. Most people will laugh/smile/tear up throughout.

The result is an enjoyable 97 minutes.

Tsunami of high school chatter, a film narrated in 1st person period, the anchor role tells and plays the role of honor supposedly the brightest girl at school. Being set up by her principal telling her that she is one outta 4 brightest at the school makes her panic and press every button there are to make the others fail at the midterms. The prizecarrot on the string is a schollarship at harvard.

Well its a comedy of 2022, verbal, digital and social media driven, the story seems to never eject , even though the sexual hints flourish like a swollen orchiid. The main actress does a decent job, as well as the main cast, but the moment of no return or jump of at the turn aint there.i really miss the slapstick and medeval pranks that made a comedy a good comedy in the past. The story spins endlessly into nothing

so a few giggles, and a couple of smiles with a small recommend comes from the grumpy old man.

The tone is inconsistent but the performances from Angourie Rice and Gaten Matarazzo and style from director Oran Zegman make this an enjoyable, but singular watch.

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. It's a teenage/high school movie with the typical student types associated with high school. You have the popular girls/boys, jocks, nerds/geeks. Bullies, & uber smart students. But what's surprising is they (student types) do not play your stereotype roles normally associated with the tag. Not sure if this is more representative of todays high schoolers, or simply the writers' wishes of what high school should be.

Angourie Rice did a superb job as the lead protagonist, Honor. An extremely talented young actor. Something I've noticed since seeing her on the three Spider-Man reboot. I bet we'll be seeing more of her in movies in the future.

This movie has the flavour of blending together, "Clueless" & "Mean Girls". But with less mean, and more heart. And splash it with a few twist and turns along the way, it's a high school, and friends we wish we all had during our teen years. A great feel good movie for the family.

SUMMARY: Highly recommended viewing. The short synopsis does not do the movie justice. Go watch it.