Assassinat d'un président

While some may compare this to Brick, the 2005 similarly-set High School film noir, Assassination is much more comparable to Chinatown, which is clearly it's biggest influence. In fact, you'll see lines lifted right out of the film. But is it good? Yes, actually, it's quite good. Clearly, the filmmakers here were not taking this quite as seriously as either Brick or Chinatown, and it pays off with a fun, funny, sometime campy, film noir with a good mystery and some well acted roles.

The writing presents a stylish script with dialogue that is often funny and over the top. Bruce Willis is especially mentionable as a veteran-turned-principle who pines over his time spent in the military taking out bad guys and his hate for chewing gum. He's perfectly over the top. Reece Thompson also does a great job as the lead character, playing up the gumshoe role with relish. It's fun to see him be him and follow him on his journey.

One line in the film goes something like "high school is simple...yet it's not." The film does a particularly good job of showing this throughout in scenes that inspire laughs. We have a suspension hall that acts like a prison, and is presented in such a way as to inspire this comparison. We have an assassination attempt that...well, I won't spoil it. But suffice to say, this scene in particular demonstrates exactly what I am talking about. It's a good revelation of how high school can be: in the end it seems simple, but while in, high school can be anything but.

The film is very entertaining and should be fun for anyone looking for a good noir. It's not serious like it's inspirations, but it does contain a good mystery, some good acting stints, and some fun dialogue. I recommend it for anyone looking for something slightly different to watch on a Saturday night.

I saw this film at Sundance at the Salt Lake screening. I have to say I was really surprised by how much I liked it. This is NOT your typical high school movie. It's the antidote to say movies like High School Musical. I'd call it Rushmore meets the Usual Suspects or John Hughes on acid or something. The characters were great, Bruce Willis was excellent and most of all it was absolutely, laugh out loud hilarious. I can't believe this film hasn't come out yet. I'm really looking forward to seeing it again. I get the feeling it could go on to become one of those Lebowski type comedies. There was so much stuff packed in there that it should get better every time you see it.

"Assassination of a High School President" is a pleasant surprise: a high school noir comedy where the joke is how seriously it takes itself. It never leaves the classroom - nothing that happens in it is too ridiculous - but it maintains a consistent sense of epic importance that successfully subverts, and is subverted by, its own fairly mundane story. On that level it's sort of brilliant; we understand how important the events of the story are to the characters while never losing track of how comically meager they are to us, the seasoned moviegoers. Now, just reading that, I can't imagine a more effective way of representing secondary school.

The story is this: (wannabe) star reporter of the school newspaper Bobby Funke (Reece Thompson) gets a puff piece on student body president Paul More (Patrick Taylor) at the same time a stack of SATs are stolen right out of Principal Kirpatrick's (Bruce Willis) office. Kirpatrick appoints Bobby as his head investigator and it turns out the two stories are deeply connected. More than that I will not say, although keep in mind this film is closer to Wes Anderson than James M. Cain.

And another thing it isn't is Rian Johnson's "Brick." Its 2005 genre predecessor and "Miller's Crossing" rip-off, that was the film where Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a down-and-out student playing two high school gangs against each other. It's the movie this one has been most compared to, unfavourably, although the two are nothing alike. "Brick" was a film of dead weight, a leaden "drama" with aged and dreary characters and a story meant to confuse and depress you. It was a gangly, nearly incomprehensible movie that's gained cult status mainly, I think, because most of its fans don't understand it. It was a movie with a story and setting that never came together, and with a sensibility and technique more heavy-handed than the worst Hollywood message movie.

"Assassination" just wants to make you laugh, and, in the process, laugh off the petty issues that plague high school life (I can see it being almost therapeutic for kids facing those problems today). It sparkles with an understated wit and has a real atmosphere to it; with stylish, brooding cinematography and dialogue that's one third noirspeak and two thirds teenage dirty-mindedness. It never plays above or below its own maturity level, at once broadly funny and fiendishly clever.

It's also a showcase for a host of young actors who are likely to become the Steve Buscemis and Robert Downey Jr.'s of their generation. Reece Thompson is note-perfect as Bobby, a classically straightlaced gumshoe-in-training who can't seem to catch a break. He holds the movie on his back and shows some real star power. Taylor is hilarious as the air-headed president, and Bobby's three stoner friends - Tanya Fischer, Luke Grimes and Vincent Piazza - inject their scenes with a put-upon camaraderie. Mischa Barton, Adam Pally and Melonie Diaz also shine.

The old pro's have a lot of fun with the material: Willis, Kathryn Morris and Michael Rapaport. Willis is particularly strong as the scene-stealing principal. He's a deadly serious, tough-as-nails man who can't stop talking about his tour of duty in the Gulf War - perhaps not the most appropriate coaching technique for a group of adolescents. His dialogue is spotless, timing perfect and intensity - palpable. Every scene he appears in elevates the material to a heightened level of pulp/pop culture craziness; you almost can't believe that's actually Bruce Willis standing there, having so much fun, almost impersonating himself. I'd go so far as to say Willis deserves a Supporting Actor nomination for his work here.

It's an effective comedy and an interesting mystery. It has a lot of fun with its premise instead of sticking to it with an almost dutiful monogamy like "Brick" did. It's well-made enough to make its director, Brent Simon, someone to watch out for. It's not perfect, the conclusion lacks some umph, but that only makes sense considering the film's last line: "Forget it Bobby, it's High School." 8/10

It's the coming-of-age of a gum-chewing gumshoe, from geek to sleek, in the 'meanhalls' of the school that never sleeps. And as such, it's one hilarious genre-spoof that actually works on all levels, the kind that when you're not laughing out right you're grinning from ear to ear. I'd even say it drives a stake thru Twi'blight, especially in regards to the hyper-true-love-of-the-super-mature-movie-teens.

I loved the 'school as prison' backdrop- Shawshank meets Hamlet 2 sort of thing, but neither over-the-top nor under-fed. The bad guys are neither psychotic nor one-dimensional while the good guys (and gal), well, they're not angels and this, again, is pitch-perfect and so refreshing compared to the usual Hollywood polarization.. and kudos on the editing, the dialogue, the pace - everything really.

One questionable casting choice however is Mischa Barton. I can't seem to come up with a better alternative and she is OK but nothing more -as opposed to the rest of the cast. She seems to have some kind of acting-facial-paralysis, very noticeable in her last scene, and for her sake, I hope she learns to transcend this botox-haze she shares with Kirsten Dunst among others. But this is truly a minor (possible) blemish in an otherwise awesome little movie where the whodunnit is somewhat gratuitous but then, you wouldn't want it any other way.

ASSASSINATION OF A HIGH SCHOOL PRESIDENT is a big step above most of the teen movies that focus on potty mouth dialogue and absurd situations just to get laughs. Writers Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski have come up with a script that is sometimes smart but ultimately full of holes in deciding where it wants to take the original premise of this high school movie. Director Brett Simon seems to sort of let the movie flow as it develops, preventing a tight telling of a story with potential.

Bobby Funke (Reece Thompson, a promising new talent) is a nerdy newspaper reporter who is never able to finish a story. Student Body President/basketball star/ladies' man Paul Moore (Patrick Taylor) seems to have everything Bobby wants, including the attention of the school's most beautiful girl Francesca (Mischa Barton). As fortune would have it a crime happens - the SATs are stolen from the office of Principal Kirkpatrick (Bruce Willis playing Bruce Willis) and Booby is on the investigation and story, a story that points to Paul as the perpetrator. Bobby's nerdiness is transformed by his attention and by the affections of Francesca, and soon the school collapses under the cloud of the crime. It is how the 'crime' is inspected and resolved that ends the film. For Bobby Funke it is a matter of 'What price glory'.

The cast is fresh and it is a pleasure to see some new faces with promise. Whether it is the director's or the sound mixer's fault, much of the dialogue is swallowed by the soundtrack, a problem thankfully solved by turning on the subtitles. This is a movie with promise from all involved and it will be interesting to see if it has an impact on teen flick quality.

Grady Harp