He's All That | Film Review

 

This is a remake of the 1999 movie 'She's All That'. I only saw that film for the first time at the beginning of 2020, so I don't have a huge connection with it. Nevertheless, I was intrigued to see how the remake would turn out. There are some small spoilers in my review - especially if you know nothing about the story. 

An influencer (Addison Rae) makes a bet that she can turn an unpopular student (Tanner Buchanan) into Prom King.

This film is exactly what you expect. It was cute, but not anything groundbreaking.

I understand the need to make the story an original update from the first version, but for me, I didn't love the fact that Padgett (our main character) was a semi-famous influencer. To me, it made Cameron's easy trust of her a bit unrealistic. It also made both of the characters feel a bit unbelievable - though to be honest, none of the characters were particularly believable.

I really liked Cameron as a character, particularly at the beginning of the film. But I didn't buy that putting a hat and a superior attitude on a conventionally attractive boy would have made him as unpopular as the film portrayed him. And if his unpopularity was by choice (as the film made it seem) then why was he swayed so easily? Why isn't he suspicious that an Instagram star suddenly wants to be friends with him out of the blue?

The writing of the film isn't great. Not necessarily the dialogue, but the actual events of the film. For example, why would Cameron put his incredibly sentimental camera by the side of a pool, and be surprised when it goes in?  

You see the villain of the film coming in the first 5 minutes. Not only was this just really predictable, but the villain herself was just weak.

The thing I disliked most about the film was the way that Cameron's character completely changed. It would have been so much more interesting if he had stayed true to who he was, and Padgett's personality had had to change as a result. And in contrast, Padgett definitely didn't have enough character development.

The reveal/climax was really anticlimactic. You could miss it if you weren't paying attention, but it's supposed to be one of the most important moments of the movie - a turning point. 

As someone who is not that into social media, this film makes me like it even less than I already did.

I thought the ending was quite cute. Not only the end of the film, but having the bloopers in the end credits. I love this, and wish that more movies would go back to doing it. Why did it stop?

Overall, as I already said, this film is what you expect. Cute, predictable, at times feels a bit like a parody. It doesn't have much substance, but again, that's probably to be expected.

4/10