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A few hundred years in the future, after our society burns out like a light-bulb and ultimately reinvents itself into a much kinder experience, there will be those who will study the films of our era and -- it is possible -- these unusual Disney-esque TV treats may just end up being revered in a class (ahem) of their own. Here is the thing. When these high school soap operas work, when the actors and writers are firing on all cylinders, they work really well. I was originally intrigued by a review in a blog which said that this film was so good it could have been shown theatrically. Brave words indeed. The truth is that, until the last 10 mins or so, this is an exceptional work that continually engages and surprises. While the story is not new as such, the actors make it come alive and the director makes it engaging. Sort of --- for those that like to deconstruct film, which is most of us -- a high school Julia Roberts vehicle (if JR had ever done a Disney, which of course she did not). The only flaw is the ending. The story clearly overwhelmed the writers who scrambled against the clock to sort out all the twists and arcs, and it shows. Flawed, but brilliantly so.

-------------Addendum July 17

Because I have been doing a few "Lists" for members, I felt compelled to have a re-watch of this one. Conclusion? Sarah Hyland's amazing performance -- playing two sides of the same coin, as it were, and using her eyes like weapons -- almost but not quite raised this film to greatness. Once again, on second viewing, I saw how rushed the writing team was at the close. It was almost like the studio had given them a checklist of items that had to be covered in the ending and, until that point, they were having too much fun writing the story to care. The ending still sucks. The movie is still much better than the IMDb rating. And Hyland's performance is a joy.

Even though "Geek Charming" borrows heavily from earlier teen movies, such as "Can't buy me love", "Clueless" and the like, the execution is fairly neat.

The storyline is a typical rom-com about a geek and a popular girl where the romantic plot and the transformations of the lead characters through their interactions are perfectly predictable. Where this movie is different is that it shows more clearly than any other teen move I've seen (and I've seen plenty) is that the whole popularity issue is a by-product of the American obsession with celebrities. Granted, being famous brings a ton of perks and revenue streams from TV commercials, but that is only for the show. Personal life is something else. The trouble with high-school kids is that they sometimes so much aspire to a celebrity status that they end up convincing themselves that such status can be obtained by simply winning fake admiration of a subset of their peers at school. This movie shows that becoming a high-school celebrity is an objective hardly worth pursuing when stacked up against the alternatives such as friendship, love and developing one's real interests.

The acting is decent and the lead characters are very likable.

In sum, it might not become one of the teen movie classics, but for those who like the genre, it is definitely worth watching.

Geek Charming is nothing special. It can be dull at times but has some convincing leads. Sarah Hyland and Matt Prokop are equally charming. They never fall flat at any scenes and have some character development. Their character's relationship with each other shines through. The story is interesting and fun for the genre. It was something new for Disney Channel that I liked. It tells a great lesson about popularity and what it really means. Overall it's enjoyable and won't bore anyone.

I know it's hard for me to break away from the habit of associating the classic MTV cartoon with other movies and TV shows, and it seems like a stretch to associate it with a Disney Channel made-for-TV movie. But the fact remains that in the episode "Monster" Daria and Jane do to Quinn what Josh Rosen does to Dylan Schofield, and finds there's more to their respected subjects than meets the eye.

Matt Porkrop plays Josh Rosen, the head of a high school film club. The club's membership includes and is evidently limited to Jimmy Bellinger, The Troop's David Del Rio, and Kayce Rohl, who plays a girl with a crush on Josh. And of course, there's Modern Family's Sarah Hyland who plays Dylan Schofield, the high school queen bee who is determined to become "Blossom Queen," and will do whatever it takes to earn that title. This queen bee is no Regina George or Heather Duke, though. She's not even a Sandi Griffin or Quinn Morgendorffer. Yes, she's a diva, but she's hardly a total bitch. Early on, we learn that her quest to be blossom queen is an effort to forge a connection to her mother who died when she was a little kid, and was herself a blossom queen in the 1980's.

So where's the Daria connection? Well, Josh decides to enter a student film festival and the subject of his movie is Miss Schoefield, the rich popular girl who seems to get everything she wants in life, with the emphasis on "seems." During the making of the movie, her desire to maintain that stuck-up persona of hers slowly erodes, and her true intellectual colors begin to show. At the same time, the would-be blossom queen takes advantage of the head film-geek's deep-seated desire to be popular, and actually makes it work. Everybody sees that they're falling for each other, no matter how much they both try to deny it. His mother, her father, his friends, her friends, the girl he wants, her idiot jock trophy boyfriend, and quite possibly his teacher.

Unfortunately, there have been some fans of the book who complain about elements that were left out. I've heard the same complaints about movie adaptations of "How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller," "Holes," "Ella Enchanted," "Maniac Magee," and "The Power of One," among others. And I've never invalidated their grievances, but if their goal is to get people interested in the books these movies originated from, it could actually work for me. One also can't deny that the chemistry between real-life boyfriend and girlfriend Porkrop & Hyland works well on screen. And you know that since this is a DCOM, things will work out for the two main characters one way or another. So maybe it doesn't meet the standards of the book, but as a DCOM it's clearly above average.

Dylan Shoenfield (Sarah Hyland) is the popular girl. She's the queen bee in Mean Girls. However she faces a challenge from an up-and-comer for her title. Josh Rosen (Matt Prokop) is a film geek. He is desperate for a subject for an upcoming contest. Then he comes up with an idea to shoot a documentary about Dylan and her campaign for the crown. Dylan agrees because she figures that it will be nothing but praises of her beautiful life. Then things happen to change everything.

This is a standard overly broad Disney fare. But Sarah Hyland is proving herself to be a good little actress. She is the center and the highlight of this movie. She's able to play the mean girl with likability. The guy isn't quite as good.