#janeyandjake

Hello, all welcome to the very first movie post!

Today’s movie and topic of discussion; Not Another Teen Movie, (2001, Joel Gallen) and while I must admit my hopes were low. This movie certainly delivered more than I was expecting. 

It’s a rated R movie: from my perspective from a bit of nudity, mature themes, language, and crude humor.

Like the title informs viewers, this really isn’t another teen movie, well it is, but it’s like a montage of every teen movie cliche in the world, held together by now mega-famous actors such as Chris Evans (MCU), Chyler Leigh (Supergirl), and so many more. 

I’d describe NATM as a somewhat awkward comedy because I alternated between laughing and cringing in every scene. It’s a great movie because it smashes teen movie stereotypes in the face while portraying every single one; token African American character, most popular boy in school, there are “no” social groups, cheer squad “brings it”, and on and on.  

I give NATM four stars out of a possible five. 

What I really liked about this movie was how out there it was, the idea of parodying all other movies of its kind could have gone very badly (and there are some parts that don’t quite work), but it actually managed to pull it off very well. But what I didn’t care for so much was all of the nudity, (looking at you foreign exchange student character), mature themes,and again, some of the stereotypes don’t exactly mesh the easiest with each other. They could have cut a few of the scenes in the movie in order to develop some of the others. Oh, and the ending was a little lackluster. 

I also liked seeing a member of Cinema royalty, and one of my favorites, Chris Evans portraying a character who was a total 360 from the Captian America viewers have come to love over the years. Jake Wyler is an empathetic dirtbag/ stereotypical jock, whose good deeds are canceled out by his bad, and visa versa. Leaving the audience neither hating or loving him, but certainly appreciating Evans’ skills when it comes to such an unbalanced chaotic natural character. 

Chyler Leigh played the somewhat-of-a-love interest/ outsider Janey, who wasn’t having any of the ridiculous stunts pulled in the movie and usually found herself the butt of a joke, or in a love serenade gone hopelessly wrong. She was a good character with a lot of heart in plenty of situations that took patience, but also just as flighty and inconsistent as any teenager in the real world. Leigh’s performance is sure to make you feel a least little bit bad for Janey as she gets bounced from one thing to the next with a kind of angst and expressionism only a stereotypical outcast character could bring. 

All and all this was a good movie, and it certainly brought me a lot of laughs. Looking for a good raunchy comedy? Well, here’s a great one.