One of my (many) pet peeves is when a movie about high schoolers features people who haven't seen the inside of a high school in 6 or 8 years. Why is it that old people are always too old to play old people and young people are too young to play young people? No such problem here. The main characters look age - appropriate. We see Peck weighing himself early in the movie... 104 lbs. By my calculation Keir Gilchrist was either 15 or 16 years old during filming. Not 23 or something. He's not Olivier but he comes across as a real kid. The interaction between him and his buddy Geiger put me right back into being in high school, and Geiger looked like a lot of high school kids I knew - kinda dog-faced but real. Even later in the story when they have a falling out and later get past it is something right out of my own teenage high school years.
The plot is anything but typical. It's not just school hi-jinks. Peck is a sort of geeky kid who somehow manages to connect as just a friend with a beautiful blond senior girl who has some personal problems. Sound funny? That part isn't. But there are some good laughs in the movie. In all though it's, as a guy I hate to use this word, but it's a sort of sweet story. It's a comedy but with heart. Peck's parents are waaay out there, wealthy and progressive far beyond a fault. Their interactions with the school principal are great, as they humorously and obtusely blame the school (or congratulate themselves) for each of their son Peck's latest offenses. The school's principal dreads having to interact with them as things never go the way these parent conferences are supposed to.
I sort of stumbled across this movie and I'm glad I did. It's not fantastic but I think a 7 on the 10 scale is not bad at all for a movie like this. I liked it and will certainly watch again.
