This film provides the perfect example of Ten Things I Hate About Teen Movies:

1) The central setting is usually in a school, and the last thing likely to happen is education.

2) School staff include Hitler-like principals, ignorant uncaring teachers, and sex obsessed counselors. (Some movies allow a "normal" teacher when he or she is romantically involved with a main character in the film. No school staff fall into that category in this film.)

3) Plots are oh-so-loosely based on classic literature. This film looks to Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew for its original conception, appealing to desperate English teachers trying to convince teens that the Bard is okay.

4) Parents are reactionary and their attempts to be "cool" while communicating with their children will end in comical failure.

5) Rich teens are important teens, otherwise, you're an extra hanging around in the background like wallpaper. The "importants" wear designer gear and female importants must bare their navels (and, in this movie, other body parts) frequently.

6) All efforts to discourage teens from using alcohol and drugs are flushed down the pipe.

7) You date to have sex. Nothing else. Virginity is a plague that must be eliminated before graduation. Sex is the major topic of all discussions, including comparison of anatomical sizes and, in this film, a suggestion of bestiality.

8) The seemingly nice guy that dad wants you to date turns out to be a jerk. The dark, mysterious bad dude (this one creates weapons in shop class) turns out to be a nice guy after all. We just had to get to know him.

9) You're likely to get a detention for the most menial infraction, but there are rarely consequences for things like physical assault.

10) Hollywood execs know that in four years a whole new crop of teens will ante up an hour and a half worth of part time wages to see this schlock again.

Talk about the movie with your family...

If your teens see this movie, talk to them about the negative attitudes portrayed by many of the characters. Do they think their friends resemble the teens portrayed in these movies. Do these movies depict the reality of young people today? How do they feel about the ten points mentioned above? Have they noticed these recurring themes in "teen" movies? I invite teens and adults to write me at parents@gradingthemovies.com and let me know what you think.

Rod Gustafson

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