In this caper film for numbskulls, a group of amoral teenage stereotypes devises an elaborate plot to break into a security building to steal some valuable merchandise. Is it the Hope Diamond they're after? A fortune in gold? Secret plans to take over the world? Front row seats to a Britney Spears concert? Heavens no. The target for this motley band of adolescent heisters turns out to be far more prosaic - the answers to the SAT exam. I guess it never occurred to these test-challenged youngsters that if they spent half the time, energy and brainpower cracking the books as they do working out this preposterous scheme, they might actually earn fairly decent scores on the test, and wouldn't risk ending up in prison for their efforts. But then you wouldn't have a movie though, frankly, a film showing people studying mind-bending word analogies would probably be more interesting than `The Perfect Score.' (Come to think of it, `Spellbound' did something similar to that, albeit with spelling rather than synonyms).
The attempts at humanizing the characters are as predictable and corny as the fantasy sequences all of the participants envision as they contemplate their roles in the plot. Of course, the movie loses its nerve at the end and comes out foursquare in favor of honesty and decency as the way to fame, fortune and happiness.
Hopefully the actors involved in this disposable piffle will move onto bigger and better things in their careers (Scarlett Johansson certainly has) - because, in the world of movie superstardom, no one's scoring a 1600 here.
