Review: Not Another Teen Movie

A film is always in trouble when it has more screenwriters than cast members.

Not Another Teen Movie
Photo: Columbia Pictures

A film is always in trouble when it has more screenwriters than cast members. Not Another Teen Movie take jabs at the teen movie genre with such incessant winking that the only thing missing are accompanying title-cards noting which films are being spoofed. Foolishly mistaking parody for satire, director Joel Gallen has fashioned his film as a spot-the-reference circus act. He’s daring in that he only robs from the best: the general plot is all Carrie while the one or two successful moments engate Bring It On. Still, everything here is only a slight variation of the familiar. If Jason Biggs is the poster child for masturbation horror stories, Chyler Leigh’s “pretty ugly girl” vies for the same award with dildo-cred. Characters egregiously call attention to the film’s parody; in effect, Not Another Teen Movie seemingly comes with its own built-in commentary track. If you can get past the non-stop hit-and-run spoofing (Cruel Intentions, Can’t Hardly Wait) and embarrassing guest appearances (Mr. T, Molly Ringwald), there’s one or two killer one-liners seemingly unrelated to the ghosts of teen movie’s past. My personal fav: “Janie’s Got A Gun” goes faux-Columbine. These moments, though, are rare. If you’re at all familiar with the teen movie genre, you might actually guess the joke even before it’s even asked. Where’s the fun in that?

Score: 
 Cast: Chyler Leigh, Jake Wyler, Jaime Pressly, Mia Kirshner, Eric Christian Olsen, Deon Richmond, Eric Jungmann, Josh Jacobson, Samaire Armstrong, Joy Bisco, Heather Brown, Kyle Cease  Director: Joel Gallen  Screenwriter: Phil Beauman, Mike Bender, Adam Jay Epstein, Andrew Jacobson, Buddy Johnson  Distributor: Columbia Pictures  Running Time: 88 min  Rating: R  Year: 2001  Buy: Video, Soundtrack

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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