The Preppie Connection

Based on a true story, a poor white kid tries to get in good with the rich privileged kids going to a fancy prep school by smuggling in drugs for them to take.

I seen this drug tale before a dozen times, but the film is quite interesting to watch despite. Especially the lead actor Thomas Mann, who became big from Me, Earl, and a Dying Girl. Just like that movie, Mann's character narrates the story, in a very very similar fashion.

Lucy Fry also played an interesting character as well as Logan Huffman who played one of the rich prep school kids. He did a fantastic job of being very unlikable to the point were you like to not like him. very nice.

Worth sitting through.

With a hurried ending, the Preppie Connection hits the highlights of a college boy turned campus drug god. It's all the exciting parts, without much of a deep connection.

There are other cocaine movies such as Blow, and even one Tom Cruise did. This is not the mind bending ride that those two were. There are also movies about class differences between teenagers in America. This is probably a very good one. Certainly it's well acted and well put together. The drama is very much like that of teen horror movies. If you find teenagers a pain to watch then this won't be for you. How much it is based on fact is a big question. The movie doesn't really answer that. Still, it adds an element of intrigue to a well told story, a story that certainly has some great moments, a clear message and a protagonist most of us will identify with.

Movies based on a true story are always more interesting then the odd fictional movie. In The Preppie Connection it's all about a simple guy, Toby (played by Thomas Mann), that tries to fit in with the other high class students. He's secretly in love with Alex (played by Lucy Fry) and tries to impress her and her entourage by scoring weed, then cocaine, and later by smuggling the white powder from Columbia. It's an interesting and entertaining movie. The cast is well chosen and the storyline is very easy to follow. It shows what some people would do to impress others or to fit in, and it shows how cocaine can destruct a lot of lives. Certainly worth a watch.

The narrative follows a predictable arc without any insight that would otherwise make it worthwhile for viewers to watch this film. There was nothing provocative or contentious offered by the flat, almost cardboard like characters. It is the kind of shallow, angst filled melodrama found in movies aimed at the young adults segment except the topic of hard drug use by teenagers is anything but because the tragedy is very real.

Derek Oatis is the person whom this movie was based off. He got away with 5 years probation and 5,000 hours of community service for selling hard drugs to teenage boys and girls. Mull over that for a while and then watch a documentary about what happens when young people become addicted to drugs. None of the people associated with the Derek Oatis case (including Derek Oatis himself) suffered any long-term consequences for what they did. They got expelled from school but then went on to lucrative and prestigious careers in law, finance, media and the like. Knowing this, is it really meaningful to make a film about the 'social injustices' of being a poor kid in a rich kid school?