I am heavily invested in wanting to see this movie. I think cast is compelling the plot what little of it I saw looks interesting. Will say more in July when it comes out.
With the rise of the Alt-Right and Neo-Nazis just becoming Nazis again. And half the country clamoring for the return to the racist 50s when white people could just .. ya know prosper without having to fuss too much with all these non-normal non-white people. You have to figure eventually they would make their kind of show. You'd have to wonder what kind of show would they make? Would they make Archie Bunker but not sarcastic? (Because for those who don't know the fact that Archie Bunker was a racist POS was the joke of the show it wasn't like a documentary)
Well wonder no more. Do you hate minorities? Are you tired of politically correct culture ruining your ability to call someone fat to their face without getting shamed out of a job? Do you think journalists are pansies who have never had a real job trying to shame innocent Americans who are just achieving the American dream that one day you just might achieve yourself? Do you fight taxes against the rich (like the estate tax WHICH ONLY AFFECTS THE RICH) because one day you might be a lottery winner and you'll be gosh darned if you have to pay taxes when you get rich? Then this is the show for you. This is a show that skewers minorities of all types as "abnormal" and "shocking". Watch our cool headed straight white female protagonist just get exhausted and ask "can't we all just be normal tonight"? Watch our popular kids (who are all also minorities exercise their "minority privilege"[1] by threatening to take away innocent college scholarships from white males for violating "esoteric social justice rules that they don't even care about".
Get ready for new Alt-Right memes. Are you tired of Chanty Binx? Oh wait if you're tired of her you probably know her as "Big Red Feminist" Get ready for Heather No 1 memes where she says the things that that man-o-sphere is always saying feminists say. Get ready to hear that body-positive is literally the same thing as fat because literally zero thin people need body positivity. Get ready to mock all types of social justice as our protagonist of white man and white female are here to bring the school's queen bees to their knees. Even the Asian bee.
[1] For the record there's no such thing but if you think there is then you like the creators of this show are both wrong and enjoy this drek
Good Jesus what happened here? Who thought any of this was a good idea? In an era where we have literal Nazis claiming to be oppressed by minorities (many of whom have been oppressed for centuries) because of the changes in the past 10-15 years, why on earth would it be appropriate to make this. I LOVED Heathers (1989). As a 90s kid it was mostly a pop culture thing for me (back when pop culture didn't move at lightning speed that the internet demands now) until I actually rented it and I truly got the chance to appreciate it. It was a fantastically dark film. As I got older of course I could appreciate the digs the movie provided at the outward proper and prim face WASP society would wear while being duplicitous and judgmental on the inside.
This TV show however is completely inappropriate for 2018. Does no one watching TV know how social media works? This is the show that all the racists have been waiting for. A show in which a "normal" (and they keep stressing this) white girl goes up against the super powerful minorities: black lesbian (pst not a lesbian just more virtue signalling), a gender-queer ginger, and their plus size leader. These new "Heathers" rule the school with a social justice platform that has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with presenting the viewer with the idea that social justice is bullying. Everything in this show is designed to appeal to the likes of the Hate YouTubers. The ones that hide behind avatars and obnoxious names and make highly specific videos against feminists and Black Lives Matter that completely miss the point and almost uniformly assume anything pro women must be anti men. The ones that will respond to a 20 minute video about feminism with an hour long video titled Re: {Original Video Title}
The YouTubers who assumed, incorrectly, that Black Lives Matter meant ONLY Black Lives Matter will love this new show. Because in this show all the "weirdos" are using their power exactly like they say they do. It's all "virtue signalling" and if you don't know what that is check out this YouTube Video (ID:sAmM872874A) googling the ID should be fine. In the first episode our minority leaders of the school spontaneously and with no inciting event attack a white male jock for wearing a shirt with a potential slur against First Nation people. They even point out that a first nation person (1/16th) is in the cafeteria RIGHT NOW. But surprise, it's all just virtue signalling because they don't even care that the kid "who should be offended" doesn't care. They use the controversy it could cause to bully this poor white jock character into taking off his shirt in the middle of the cafeteria, which I imagine was supposed to be embarrassing but given that they don't cast ugly people on TV didn't exactly work. He looks like a fit football jock with his shirt off.
You see dear viewers.. this is what minorities do. They just use their minority status to bully white people. And only straight white people (like Veronica) can call a spade a spade. That's why she's our hero character. She's the only one who doesn't buy into the Heather's brand of social justice bullying.
In spite of what the showrunner claims nothing in this show is done sarcastically. For an example of what sarcastic portrayals would look like see the fantastically hilarious and over the top Scream Queens and considering how much I hate Ryan Murphy I was so impressed with that show that I couldn't deny it's greatness and how much I enjoyed it. The show is just a straight forward whitelash. White characters who feel like they're tired of being supplanted by newer characters who are different races or genders have been on the rise clapping back. For a much better show about how the popular girls look different than they did in the 80s see Awkward. Both of those shows do everything that Heathers looks like it's trying to do but better.
Even the parents serve this anti social justice goal. Veronica's parents are tablet obsessed, ignore their child, yet can't operate technology, and care more about puppies than the poor African children next to them. JD (the psychotic character who will take Veronica down the bad path) on the other hand has a father who doesn't ignore his son but is a manly man and is sarcastic towards him but at least pays attention to him. He's a frakking tycoon who works hard and gets punished by society "just for trying to make a living and make jobs". Heck we later find out that he collects literal Nazi memorabilia down to the pills that Germans took to induce vomiting (in case of poisoning) as well as pills to induce death.
This isn't a flashy remake of Heathers that has been updated for the modern era. It's an alt-right wet dream. This isn't Heathers 2018 this is Make Heathers Great Again.
P.S. There are two great jokes about technology though.
I've never read MotOE before so I don't know if it differs from the book. I will say that this is not the most red herring plot twisty mystery movie I've ever seen. Of course that title goes to Clue but this film isn't even second place. There are turns and just a few twists. Enough that I felt satisfied but not so many that it felt cheesy. A big thing for me with mystery media is whether or not I could have solved it. One of the most frustrating things for me reading The Red Headed League (iirc) was that the key clue for Sherlock was dirt on the knees of a man who came to the door. A clue that was not described and thus I had no chance to untangle. It's much easier and thus much less forgivable in visual media for clues to be hidden away where I can't see them.
All of this to conclude that MotOE does a good job of providing clues that someone paying attention could pick up on. I didn't solve everything but when Poirot solved a question I felt like I immediately saw how he did it and that if I had wanted to pause the film I might have been able to solve it as he did. Not for every clue or every twist but for enough that I felt satisfied. All in all I was happy with it.
Alright so here's the deal. This is a 4/10 movie that I'm giving a 5/10 on the base of how extremely attractive the female leads are. In fact they're so attractive that it affects the general suspension of belief required for film. In most movies most characters are attractive. This is a given but characterization and acting can help you forget that. This is ESPECIALLY important when you don't know the actors like with Iwan Rheon in Misfits. I mean we had what two seasons of that man and then he took his shirt of and even I was impressed. The point however is that Kate Upton and Alex Da-something or other are ostensibly too attractive for me to take their issues seriously. The idea that one is a womanizer umm manizer? actually it's more hippie-ish. She's just all about that free love. Anyway she has a lot of sex. Yeah I buy that. But she still can't get her life together? She's just schluping along with no job trying to sell things? Hasn't been picked up for a modeling career or anything. Nah. Just nah.
Alexandra Daddario (Percy Jackson) has super wide super attractive eyes and in her swimsuit scene she's very attractive. yada yada yada I can fill this review with how attractive each of them is. But that is beside the point. The point is that they can't pull off "I'm just a normal girl in the city working as a teacher and none of the teenage boys hit on me or lose their erectile control around me."
I like to play a game with RomComs that's basically how long until I can predict exactly what happens. For me it was a surprise about 30%. To be fair, that was my second guess and I was completely sold on my third guess at 50% but at around 70% there's a twist that took me back. In the end, everything is fine but nothing is changed.
The premise of this movie is perfectly fine. I was okay with it. Two best friends compete over a dude. But they compete for no reason. Over a random dude. I mean hot maybe but fight your best friend over him hot? There's no inciting incident, there's no pre-fight or ever a real discussion about whether or not they should fight about it. It's a fatal flaw that and a few other things basically ruin the movie even though it doesn't end up with a "typical ending" as i anticipated.
Watch it to oggle the girls and if you find a Daddario sex scene to be a compelling idea. Don't watch if no Upton sex scenes is a dealbreaker.
The biggest surprise of this movie was a scene where Daddario has to hose herself off from a truly gross encounter and they didn't turn it into a wet t-shirt scene.
Naked is a good but not great groundhog day clone. It's above decent even, with a touch of gross out humor (and I'm not talking about Marlon's naked body) that plague Wayan's films since Scary Movie 2. Still sincerity is developed eventually, though it doesn't feel that way from the start.
Groundhog Day movies are about characters becoming better people. The main character in this movie usually has to start off as a bad character and become better. Rob Anderson, our naked main character, does not start off bad. He actually starts off very sympathetic, but as the movie goes on you realize that he's not exactly good as he seemed.
It's a sort of backwards wave for character development and it causes things to start off a bit slowly because you don't realize if anyone has had any actual character progression. By the end of the movie, however, a solid argument could be made that the film is worthwhile. So to reconclude, in the end the movie is better than decent but not fantastic.
the ending was horrid. it should have cut after "the kiss". The movie was surprisingly heartfelt. Rather sincere if ironically a little too much about sex at timers.
This movie is amazing. a wonderful surprise hit.
ummm no. It was bad enough when the main character died but that "he was the psychic all along" twist was stupid.
serviceable non family friendly comedy. perfectly adequate
