Post by StevePulaski on Nov 9, 2011 15:10:25 GMT -5
Bryan Greenberg and Scarlett Johansson.
Rating: ★★½
The Perfect Score is a teenage heist film about a group of students who plot to break into the SAT headquarters to steal the answers of the test so they can all pass and continue on with their merry way. Their reason? They believe since the SAT creators don't play fair, they don't have to either.
The students in the film make excellent points about standardized testing. One of the boys claims that they tell you from day one in school to be unique, but then they give you the same test, treating you all as the same student. Grades and GPA's don't matter come time for the ACT and SAT. You can be the best in your grade, and average student, or the class idiot and you'll get the same test.
Irony stems from that, and the fact that you're being tested on all the things you'll most likely learn in College. Not to mention, the teachers and the school get money and more funding if they find out your school has the best test scores. It's a grade that defines you, and all also profits the school.
Director Brian Robbins directed many early Nickelodeon shows such as All That, and one of my all time favorites, Kenan & Kel. He even was the man behind the camera in Good Burger, a childhood favorite of mine. He has his name on a lot of things I like, but if only The Perfect Score could add to that list.
The story focuses on teens of all different stereotypes (the sports player, the outsider, the average kid, the below average kid, the good girl, and the stoner) who want to overthrow the system and sneak into the SAT headquarters, print the answers to the test, do well, and move on with their lives. They're heist becomes a lot more difficult when they realize they will have to fill out the answers one by one on the spot while trying to avoid getting caught. But in the end, they wind up learning something more about themselves and each other.
It's a cute story, and it has certain ambition and appeal. But the characters never morph past their stereotypes like a film like this would suggest. One of the characters mentions The Breakfast Club, so now I feel obligated to compare it to that. In The Breakfast Club, the characters started out as stereotypes, but along the way, showed that they were more sincere than reality had made them out to be. It shows that the five kids in detention aren't as shallow as they seem.
In The Perfect Score, the characters seem like they'll make progress and morph into better people, but it simply never happens. Everyone's likable, everyone's young and vibrant, but the overall effect is underwhelming at best. Not to say some scenes aren't enjoyable or some characters are poorly written, but the storyline is sketchy, believability is slim, and the optimism turns into dead dreams. It's one of those teen films where after you watched it, you feel like you watched it. Not like you lived or relived it.
Starring: Erika Christensen, Chris Evans, Bryan Greenberg, Scarlett Johansson, Darius Miles, and Leonardo Nam. Directed by: Brian Robbins.