"That's a nice-a donut."

Monday, August 15, 2005

The Perfect Score (2004)

If movie titles were actually representative of the quality of the movie - for example, The Godfather might be The Excellent Godfather - then The Perfect Score would actually be titled The Imperfect Score. Or even more accurately, The Wretched Score.

The movie is about a group of high school seniors who team up and conspire to break into the Educational Testing Services to steal a master copy of the upcoming SAT test. This is a very cliched band of school characters, they are like the rejects that didn't make it into The Breakfast Club. There is Anna, the super smart girl who is seemingly just trying to please her parents (Erika Christensen); Desmond, the dumb jock basketball player (former NBA player Darius Miles); Kyle (Chris Evans) and Matty (Bryan Greenberg), the masterminds behind the heist; Francesca (Scarlett Johansson), the wise-beyond-her-years girl who is rebelling against her father who just happens to work for the ETS in Princeton; and Roy (Leonardo Nam), the stoner who ranks dead last in the class but has some surprising wit about him. They all join the "SAT Study Group" for different reasons; a few because they want to get accepted to the school of their dreams, others for reasons of love or hate.

The night of the heist plays like a major life experience for all the kids, where they all somehow mature into experienced adults overnight. The heist itself is a bit of a bore and, though the filmmaker's would like to believe otherwise, there is little camaraderie or "chemistry" between the stars. Erika Christensen proves that she owes whatever career she has to Steven Soderbergh and her role in Traffic, as she is one of the worst actresses around. Further, Roy is both one of the dumbest and poorly written characters I've ever seen, and also one of the most interesting - sometimes both at the same time. I sometimes couldn't stand it when he was on screen, yet I couldn't look away. Fortunately, Johansson saves it from being a total dud as she injects some life into the scenes that she is in.

Needless to say, there are plot holes-a-plenty and some truly laughable logic. And of course there is the typical Hollywood ending where everything comes together, tied up with a nice little bow.

I'm really sick of high school movies where the characters all think they are seasoned college students. Though, it certainly doesn't help that the actors are often older than college-age. Sure there are a few moments in The Perfect Score that are worth watching, but in general you'll likely find yourself wishing you were taking the SAT instead.

The Verdict: D+.

Michael Bentley 8:49 AM

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