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adamwatchesmovies · 3 years ago

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He’s All That (2021)

Attempting the gender-swap reboot thing with She’s All That was a bad idea. It’s even less memorable than its predecessor - itself a vanilla version of My Fair Lady - and squanders every opportunity it might’ve had to update the story.

Instagram influencer Padgett Sawyer (played by TikTok superstar Addison Rae) is devastated when she catches her boyfriend Jordan (Peyton Meyer) cheating while live streaming. Their breakup causes her to lose followers and sponsorships in droves. To win them back, she takes on a challenge to turn loser Cameron Kweller (Tanner Buchanan) into prom king.

Like in She’s All That, you can foresee just about everything in this story. I won’t criticize the movie for this too because it’s what you came to see. I will criticize writer R. Lee Fleming Jr. for the flaccid attempts to utilize social media in the story. Catching your boyfriend cheating on you isn't going to cost you followers. If anything, you’d gain some… they’d just be subscribing for the wrong reasons. There are so many ways this tale could use new-age technology to its advantage. Cameron could learn about the deception through an overly personal video or a text message she accidentally sends to the wrong contact, for example. As is, this feels like a whole lot of "How do you do, fellow kids?"

By far, the movie's biggest flaw is Addison Rae. She proves you can be badly cast even when "playing yourself". Every scene with her and Tanner Buchanan is unconvincing. It reinforces the feeling that this whole thing... really wouldn't play out this way in real life. Even with his antisocial attitude and long hair, eight-pack sporting Cameron would be beating the ladies off with a stick. He also wouldn't care about being tricked, not with his raging teenage hormones. If you think those makeovers of the past where all the lady needed was to put her hair down and take off her glasses were ridiculous, check out how little effort is needed to turn this hunk into prom king candidate.

This Pygmalion tale has never been flimsier thanks to the non-existent stakes. On top of the jeopardized sponsorship, Padgett is also remodeling Cameron because of a bet, a bet that means NOTHING. Firstly, it’s a wager between kids. Secondly, the whole thing should be null and void because of interference. Finally, there's no reason for Padgett to keep going with it, certainly not once she develops true feelings for her mark.

The story is made more modern by giving both Cameron and Padgett lesbian besties, both of which are played by visual minorities... but they’re completely superfluous to the story, so let’s not get too excited. There’s a message somewhere about experiencing life outside of your phone. Otherwise, nothing except for the casting (which includes non-actress Kourtney Kardashian) makes this story any better than She’s All That, which was at least semi-original.

In theory, this should’ve been a good idea. Don’t remake good movies; remake movies that had potential they never lived up to. For fans, throw in some Easter eggs in the form of Matthew Lillard and Rachael Leigh Cook, a pointless dance scene and a remix of Sixpence None the Richer’s Kiss Me. Instead, He’s All That will make you look back fondly on a mediocre movie as it struggles to validate its existence. (September 17, 2021)