Z/Web

Author: William Shakespeare (loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew) and Karen McCullah Lutz

Director: Gil Junger

The writer of this movie must be schizophrenic — this movie is alternately a cheap, crass teen flick and occasionally a brilliant satire on American high school life. There are some really good moments and characterizations, but they are mixed in with unfortunate toilet humor. This inconsistency leaves you strangely uneasy. It’s not like Animal House, where you expect raunchy, but more like a crude version of Clueless. A good example of this crudeness is the recurring character of the guidance counselor who writes pornography between student visits. It’s funny at first, but her text is remarkably graphic and she shows no shame, leaving you more puzzled than amused. It’s like a half-joke played for a real one. Still, there are some really cool moments. My favorite was when the Dad, who most of the movie was a stereotypical pregnancy-obsessed parent, reveals he’s not as dumb as you thought. He’s got two daughters: the younger one’s pretty and perfect and popular, the older one an intelligent, independent-minded feminist-in-training. The older one’s looking to move far away to college and her father’s opposed to it. He tells her something along the lines of “Your sister at least lets me pretend to be a dad once in a while. You, you’ve had me on the bench for years.” I thought that was really profound, as we saw the father’s fear of losing his role as a parent as his children grow up and don’t need him any more. All and all, uneven: surprisingly intelligent in places, surprisingly juvenile in others. Rentable, if you’re curious for what passes for teen drama these days.