Movie Guys: ‘She’s All That,’ but the movie is not

Friday, Jan. 29, 1999 | 10:50 a.m.

Dave: Remember your days in high school, Jeff? The constant pranks, running late for class, gushing over the hottest chicks on campus. A lot like our college years at UNLV.

But the difference, of course, was not only the fact we lived with our parents, but that image was everything. It was essential. It determined your social status. You were either with the in-crowd or a blatant outcast. A jock/cheerleader, or band/theater geek. Popularity could be a teen's priority. It sure is nice to know that some things never change. Oh sure, the designer clothes and the music trends are practically foreign to our generation, but social structure remains constant.

Jeff: Please, Dave, I was never late to class and "chicks" isn't the preferred nomenclature. They prefer to be called "babes." Plus, I was in theater! What of it?

Anyway, I was one of those students who had friends in every category, and could blend into their language and culture and not risk getting beaten up. Jocks, stoners, theater geeks, nerds, preppies -- I moved in between cultures.

"She's All That" is about when these worlds collide. It's "My Fair Lady" meets "Cinderella." "She's All That" is a perfect coming-of-age film for the '90s generation, conjuring up problems and tribulations (love, parents, relationships) that every teen faces in high school today and in years past.

Dave: Perfect? The "perfect coming-of-age film," you say, Jeff? Here we go again, folks. Jeff seems to exaggerate what is otherwise far from "perfect."

First off, rising star Prinze Jr. (of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" fame) conveys his stuck-up, most-popular-kid-in-school character as "Most Likely to Become Mr. Compassion." I never believed that honor student Zack, the class president and captain of the soccer team, was the shallow, self-absorbed teen that he was played out to be. Second, he needs his younger, intellectual sister (Oscar-winner Anna Paquin, in a surprise miscast) to inform him of the nature of the cruel bet as a "good lesson" for him to learn. Not only is she an annoyance, but her overacting in such a small role deserves some ridicule.

Finally, I have a hard time buying the fact that a trendy Los Angeles high school's prom would consist of a dance sequence modeled after any number of Michael Jackson videos. One word for you: silly.

Jeff: Remember the audience, Dave! You don't watch "Dawson's Creek" and you're not 13 with a stomach full of tingly feelings, struggling through growing pains. Our generation (raised in the mid-'80s) had its share of teen films -- "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," and "Can't Buy Me Love" -- all of which spoke to us. Well, here is the '90s version: New times for a new generation, but the same old story, which works. This is a wonderful exception to other dismal teen flicks of the late '90s, such as "Can't Hardly Wait" and "The Faculty."

The shining star is Rachael Leigh Cook as Laney Boggs, a homely girl who is into art and theater, and saving the whales, but is extremely anti-social. What do you exepect when Laney's best friend is the high school fat kid? Her reclusive father (played hilariously by Kevin Pollak) is a pool man and, after losing her mother to cancer, Laney must raise her younger brother and hold the family together. When does she have time to be a kid? Cook is superb. Burdened with loads of raw talent and charm (and looking a lot like Winnoa Ryder), she wins your heart as she carves out a character who is complex, independent and undergoes a miraculous metamorphosis. Bravo.

Dave: As far as the '90s teen flicks you mentioned that spoke to us, I hardly think that "She's All That" is at the same level. The film mixes enough humor and intimate moments to recall classic scenes from most John Hughes productions, and Emmy-nominated director Robert Iscove (1997's "Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella") proves his worth as a feature filmmaker.

However, just because the intended audience is younger than I am (27, for those counting) does not mean that studios cannot make a smart, romantic, teen comedy where a sincere message can be found. "She" may be all that, but the film is nowhere near all that.

MOVIE BUZZ

Is Ian "Impossible"?: Actor Ian McKellen, currently winning acclaim for his role as gay filmmaker James Whale in "Gods and Monsters," is in talks to play a villain in "Mission: Impossible 2" opposite Tom Cruise. The sequel is slated for an early March start and will be directed by John Woo ("Face/Off"). McKellen also starred this year in "Apt Pupil."

ShoWest show-off: Catherine Zeta-Jones, who lit up the screen last year as Antonio Banderas' love interest in "The Mask of Zorro," will be honored as Supporting Actress of the Year at ShoWest 1999 in Las Vegas. The 29-year-old Welsh actress returns to the big screen May 7 in 20th Century Fox's "Entrapment," a romantic thriller with Sean Connery. Zeta-Jones is currently shooting DreamWorks' "The Haunting of Hill House."

Universal taps "Topper": Universal is in talks with Hugh Wilson ("The First Wives Club") to write and direct a remake of the 1937 comedy "Topper," according to a number of sources. The original film starred Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as a fun-loving couple who die in their car and come back to haunt its new owner, a stuffy aristocrat named Cosmo Topper. Wilson's next film, "Blast from the Past," starring Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone, will be released by New Line Cinema Feb. 5. He has just completed production on Universal's "Dudley Do-Right," an adaptation of the Jay Ward cartoon starring Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker and Alfred Molina.

NAME THAT FLICK

"I race cars, I play tennis, I fondle women, but I have weekends off, and I am my own boss." Congratulations go out to Zoe Larner, who correctly guessed that it was spoken by Dudley Moore in "Arthur." Way to go, Zoe!

For this week, who said this and in what film?: "I'm not having one of my best days, either. I just died five minutes ago." Does it sound familiar? If you think you know, call The Movie Guys Hotline at 225-9026, or e-mail us at movieguys5@aol.com. Be sure to spell your name and leave your daytime phone number, and if you're the first correct caller/e-mailer, we will print your name right here in our column for the entire Las Vegas Valley to read.

Don't forget to pick up the latest issue of Las Vegas Weekly and check out our exclusive interview with Val Kilmer, who talks to us about his new flick, "At First Sight." See you next week!

THE MOVIE GUYS, starring Jeff Howard and Dave Neil, appears Friday in the Sun (additional material provided by Thomas Feeney). You can also read their capsule reviews of movies in Las Vegas Weekly magazine. Plus, check them out online at lasvegassun.com/sun/sunlife/movies.

archive