DARREN STEIN
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
USA, 1999. Crossroads Films, Jawbreaker Productions Inc., Kramer-Tornell Productions, TriStar Pictures. Screenplay by Darren Stein. Cinematography by Amy Vincent. Produced by Stacy Kramer, Lisa Tornell. Music by Stephen Endelman. Production Design by Jerry Fleming. Costume Design by Vikki Barrett. Film Editing by Troy Takaki.
Meanspirited teen flick tries for the horror-comic atmosphere of Carrie but is really just depressingly negative. Rose McGowan and two of her gals decide to give their best friend the birthday surprise of her life by staging a fake kidnapping, gagging her with a jawbreaker and throwing her in the trunk of a car for a joyride. Birthday celebrations are a little dampened by the fact that the lucky lady accidentally chokes on the giant candy, so the girls decide to make it look like a murder and try to forget the whole thing. Trouble arrives in the form of Judy Greer as the school’s ultimate geek who accidentally finds out the whole story, so the posh group of popular ladies decide to give the hopeless dweeb a makeover and turn her into a super success. Sometimes it’s sexy, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it even tries to be moving, but mostly it’s a so-so effort in a valley of so-so teen movies. Of interest for trivia fans, the couple playing Liz Purr’s parents are none other than William Katt (Sissy Spacek’s date in Carrie) and P.J. Soles (Spacek’s arch-nemesis in that film).
