Delayed Reaction: Good Kids

The Pitch: It's like American Pie, only bad (or worse, depending on your opinion of American Pie).

This is a bad movie and that's all I should say about it. However, when has that stopped me before from going on for a couple hundred words? I watched this as part of my ongoing quest to figure out if Zoey Deutch is talented or just pretty. So far, the evidence suggests that she's only being cast to be pretty so far. The jury is still out on whether she's simply not being given the opportunities.

So, this screenplay was on the Hollywood blacklist at some point. I want to know how? Did they have to change everything about it to get the movie made, because this was shit*. This wants to be a raucous comedy. American Pie really is the best example of what it aspires to be. The characters just weren't any good. I stopped caring about Deutch's character as soon as I realized they were playing the "no one realizes she's hot" card. I also had trouble sympathizing with Andy's problems, given that they amount to 1) his tennis pro/prostitute for cougars job gives him a yeast infection**, 2) his "clearly an internet scam" girlfriend turns out to be completely real and super into him, and 3) his childhood friend who he's in love with turns out to look like Zoey Deutch. And there's a certain laziness to the schools they all get into: MIT, Harvard, Stanford. C'mon. At least Superbad went a little off book and chose Dartmouth. It made me sad to see people like Ashley Judd and Demian Bichir in this.

*Ok, I did like the joke at the beginning in the flashback which I'm pretty sure was a Stand By Me reference (and if it wasn't, then that was stupid too).

**By the way, just give him an STD. Yeast infection sounds like such a compromise.

There are signs of what could've made this a good movie. With a softer touch, Mateo Arias' shenanigans could've been pretty entertaining - more or less the Fitz of this movie. Iseal Brossard could have had some moments too. I like that his character was the one in the group being left out of the craziness. Perhaps a director with a softer touch could've found a better balance.
I've devoted too many words to this. Don't watch it unless you are certain that a 30%-as-good American Pie (Think: Cougar Club) is something you'd enjoy.

Verdict (?): Strongly Don't Recommend