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Comedy | 1 hr 50 min |  PG-13 | Release Date: Feb. 20, 2015

By Stacy Rickard

Bianca Piper, played by Mae Whitman, is that friend you have who says they don’t want to go to Homecoming because they know they won’t have a date. That’s the premise of the movie in a nutshell. 

Bianca has been friends with the school’s “hot girls” since second grade, but thanks to her hunky neighbor Wesley (Robbie Amell), she’s now aware that the “DUFF” is her title, the “Designated Ugly Fat Friend.” It’s something that no one has ever heard of and no one should say out loud. 

She confronts and then completely disowns her friends Casey and Jess (Bianca Santos and Skyler Samuels) even though they’re completely oblivious to what Bianca is talking about. To finalize the end of their friendship, Bianca “unfollows” Casey and Jess on every social media, and vice versa. Even after saying how much she hates Wesley, she looks to him for advice on how to overcome this “DUFF” standard, in exchange for Chemistry tutoring. Wesley is on again, off again with the film’s leading beyatch, Madison Morgan (Bella Thorne) who completely humiliates Bianca after uploading a YouTube video that shows her making out with a mannequin who she pretends is Toby, her #FutureBabyDaddy, and the film’s guitar-picking, hair-flipping romantic interest. The DUFF tries to incorporate every social media under the sun, includes on-screen hashtags, YouTube view counts, Instagram handles and the like. 

Even though the film is about empowering yourself and loving who you are, it comes up short. Bianca ditches her beloved overalls and flannels to try to impress the boy she likes. Mixed messages for young women. These high school students are partying with alcohol, talking about “banging” the hot girls, referencing porn, and using countless cuss words. It’s a film that’s trying way too hard to be modern and appeal to young women, even though most of the girls with me in the theater looked to be middle school. It tries to teach girls to love themselves, yet instills that they would love themselves with a boyfriend even more.

As a junior in college, I thought that it was a good movie only because Mae Whitman is a good actress. However, if this movie is catered to middle school and high schoolers, it falls flat. Stop trying to encourage this behavior, because it’s inappropriate.

18 and up rating: B+

18 and below: C

GMTX's Marysabel Cardozo sat with local artist Lakeem Wilson in studio and discussed the meaning behind his work, how he began drawing, and much more. You can find more of his art on his website (x).