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?

Not another teen movie with young adults playing high school students? Yes, but this one's a winner. It's clever, witty, engaging, has heart and is knocked out of the park by a star winning performance by Angourie Rice. I enjoyed how the tone shifted from Machiavellian to honesty and truth, though the counselor/student sub plot is a little creepy. Should appeal to all ages and I'm an old dude.

Overall it is a very good movie, but ending feels rushed and generic.

Still script(loved Goodman since he wrote that Futurama episode) and Rice acting make it an enjoyable watch.

The story was decent. The ending was kinda surprising. There are some pretty funny jokes. Great casting. A good feature film debut for Gaten Matarazzo.

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.