Not Another Teen Movie
2001 · Directed by Joel Gallen
Original language: English
- comedy
The story
On a bet, a gridiron hero at John Hughes High School sets out to turn a bespectacled plain Jane into a beautiful and popular prom queen in this outrageous send-up of the teen movies of the 1980s and '90s.
What it’s like
Bright, flat, overlit high school sets with saturated primary colours and the glossy, slightly cheap digital sheen of early-2000s studio comedy, cut together at a brisk clip with quick zooms and reaction shots that land on every gag. The sound is pop-rock needle drops, locker slams, and sudden stingers that undercut the sentiment. The vibe is goofy, sugary and irreverent, a big sleepover-style spoof that keeps swapping one teen-movie cliché for the next. Its humour is loud and crude: sex jokes, slapstick, bodily gags, and plenty of mocking of jocks and cheerleaders, with lots of pratfalls but no real menace. Violence is cartoonish and minor, with some profanity and sexual innuendo throughout. The emotional register stays light, with the central romance and the underdog arc played for laughs and a sweet payoff. It suits a lazy group watch, a late-night laugh with friends, or a nostalgic rewatch for anyone who grew up on the originals it parodies. It is for people who want silly, self-aware teen comedy and are fine with raunchy humour.
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