DVD Review: Not Another Teen Movie
Written by: Kage Alan

Film Rating: B-
DVD Special Features: A

You know, at my age, I'm not sure it's a good thing to be able to say that
I've seen about 95% of the films that "Not Another Teen Movie" actually
spoofs.  I really thought I'd seen more horror or science fiction, but I
guess I've slipped in a whole bunch of others, aside from the classics of
course.  Well, more about this later.

The plot, such as it is, involves the usual set-up of the popular jock type,
Jake Wyler (Chris Evans, "Opposite Sex"), making a bet with the cocky blonde jock, Austin (Eric Christian Olsen, "Pearl Harbor"), that he can turn around the schools pretty ugly girl, Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh, "That 80's Show"), into a Prom Queen.  Throw in a bitchy cheerleader (Jamie Pressly, "Ticker"), the cruel horny sister (Mia Kirshner, "The Crow: City Of Angels"), a
desperate virgin (Cody McMains, "Bring It On"), a token black guy (Deon
Richmond, "Scream 3"), a stupid fat guy (Ron Lester, "Varsity Blues"), an
obsessed best friend (Eric Jungmann, "Varsity Blues"), the perfect Jennifer
Love Hewitt look-alike (Lacey Chabert, "Lost In Space"), the stereotypical
foreign exchange student (Cerina Vincent, "Undressed") and the usual white
guy who thinks he's another nationality (Samm Levine, "Freaks And Geeks") and you've got another teen movie.

I really don't want to list every film they spoofed.  Suffice to say that
it's quite a large number and they borrowed or built upon many of the more
popular moments of those films.  For the most part, "Not Another Teen Movie" is consistently funny and there are moments of freshness, but not enough of them.  One such example is a reenactment of a scene from "The Breakfast Club" where Paul Gleason reprises his role and storms into the library to confront some students about a ruckus.  It just doesn't stray far enough away from the source material to be completely successful and falls a tad flat.  I expected more.  On the other hand, a sequence at the end of the film with Molly Ringwald (who I had a MAJOR crush on growing up) provides some wonderful humor and a twinge of nostalgia.  Her parting words will remain burned in my mind for a very long time to come.

Unfortunately, there are also moments when the film pushes the boundary of
"stretching it" into absolute absurdity.  Four students falling through the
ceiling and a toilet covering them in excrement was just stupid.  Oddly
enough, both the cast and director mirror that same feeling.  Another scene
involved the jock's father setting him up with his (the jock's) mother to use
as a rebound fling.  Um…ew!  It didn't occur to me until listening to the
commentary that the scene actually makes sense in reference to Mia Kirshner's
role as the incestuous sister.  The whole family is a bit screwy.  Still,
it's in poor taste as is a lesson in French kissing later on between Mia and
an older woman.  Gross?  You bet.  Funny?  No, not really.  "American Pie"
bordered on bad taste, but at least had the decency not to step into the
realm of asinine.  "Not Another Teen Movie" just goes way too far at times.

Okay, that's the bad.  I did find myself laughing quite a bit and getting
some of the more obscure references, like the paperboys asking for "two
dollars" (from "Better Off Dead").  The expressions on Jaime Pressley's face
are absolutely priceless, Mia Kirshner has got her role down perfectly and
this is the first film I've really enjoyed her in yet, Samm Levine had me
rolling because I actually know people like his character, Eric Jungmann was
a scream to watch, Ron Lester was obviously enjoying spoofing himself, Randy Quaid was his usual comic self, Chyler Leigh knew her source material
extremely well, Deon Richmond needs to do more films because the man is a
riot, Cody McMains could have been Anthony Michael Hall's younger brother and I wouldn't have minded taking Eric Christian Olsen home with me.  Director Joel Gallen gets the most out of his cast and is luckier than he should be.

The pacing of "Not Another Teen Movie" is kept moving from one gag to the
next and thankfully doesn't overstay its 90 minute running time.  There's
enough to keep you laughing from time to time and busy picking out what's
being spoofed when you're not, though I can't help but think it would have
found a larger audience if it had been written for a PG-13 audience instead
of an R one.  How many 18+ year olds are going to go see a teen movie?  Cover the nudity, take out the worst of the language and you've got a film that will attract a wider audience and won't offend some of the smaller ones.

The picture quality of the film is outstanding.  The Anamorphic video
transfer boasts some excellent colors and little to no grain.  The Dolby
Digital tracks sounds fantastic, especially with all of the off-screen
dialogue added in later as well as the soundtrack and periodic sound effects.
The quality of this transfer is almost better than the film itself.

As far as DVD extras go, this one is absolutely loaded!  First off are two
commentaries.  One features Director Joel Gallen and Writer Mike Bender while the other has actors Chyler Leigh, Jaime Pressly, Chris Evans, Eric Christian Olsen and Eric Jungmann.  Both are different enough and entertaining enough to listen to, though I don't know how much of this film you can stand with repeated viewings.  Gallen and Bender handle some of the technical aspects of it as well as what was rewritten in the script, cut out of the film, what worked and what ultimately didn't.  They congratulate themselves a bit, yet are quick to point out the film's shortcomings as well.  It's actually not a
bad balance.  The actors' commentary is a scream!  If you want to listen to
these people kick back and have a blast recounting incidents on the set as
well as their own personal feelings about the film, then you'll get a kick
out of this.  There's also a "Teen Movie Factoid" subtitle feature included
in the commentaries that gives you lots of inside information like VH1's Pop
Up Videos.  It's not bad, though it does tend to mirror some of what the
director and writer say.

Next up are a trio of documentaries called "Best Dressed" (9 minutes), "Class
Clown" (9 minutes) and "My Freshman Year" (13 minutes).  Each covers a
different aspect of the film and is filled with behind-the-scenes footage as
well as interviews with cast and crew.  They aren't bad and actually come
across as quite fun.  Moving right along we have 18 deleted/extended scenes.   
Some of these were cut because the original sequence went too long, was truly
tasteless or just didn't work as a whole.  They are kind of neat to see like
this because some of it is rather funny.  The original ending without Molly
Ringwald's involvement is included in the bunch as well.

There's an 8 minute presentation of "Marilyn Manson's 'Tainted Love' The
Unrated Version" that gives includes interviews with the artist as well as
behind-the-scenes footage before finally showing the video.  It's kind of a
cool thing for Manson fans.  Anyone else won't care one way or the other.   
Another section, "The Yearbook" features 6 minutes of cast photos from the
film and from their personal collection.  Interesting and amusing at times,
but not a reason to buy the disc (I still thought it was cool to have,
though!).  "Meet The Cast Promos" is a collection of 7 teaser previews
presented by seven different characters in the film, all stereotypes and all
showing an amusing bit of the film.  I rather enjoyed the "Auditions
Montage", which showed bits and pieces of the actors auditioning for their
parts and it's easy to see while viewing this why they got the roles they
did.

Joel Gallen's first 3 minute short feature with Jenny McCarthy called "Car
Ride" is also in the extras.  It's cute and shows the kind of sense of humor
that Ben Stiller found to be useful in the "Zoolander" projects.  Rounding
out the extras is a series of Teen Movie questions presented by cast and crew
and 6 theatrical trailers.  Yes, it will take you a solid day to go through
all of the material they put on this disc.  It's great for fans, but man does
it kill an entire Saturday when trying to write a review!

I enjoyed "Not Another Teen Movie" despite myself.  Yes, it has its share of
problems, but the cast is attractive and really gives it their all.  I mean,
what other movie is going to position subtitles around a woman's breasts so
that they don't interfere with the shot?  Not many.  Okay, I was also unduly
forced into liking the film in the end because of Molly Ringwald's presence.  
Just pray there's no sequel.

COMMENTS:
Date/Time of Posting:  Jul 12 2002 / 08:32:12
IP Address:  213.168.20.94
name = netti
where = nettikas@hot.ee
Sub = cooooool movie!!
comments = i think this movie is very good, and thank god i saw this movie, you know!! i started to like mia in there, and now i'm her fan. she is very beautiful in there!! she is very beautiful!! i love you mia kirshner!!

Date/Time of Posting:  Sep 08 2002 / 17:02:20
IP Address:  152.163.188.198
name = romeo
where = fiftheb@aol.com
replyemail = great movie
comments = this movie was really funny, but the best part was watching chyler leigh. she is sooooooooo beautiful.