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Back Shelf Beauties
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The Perfect Score Is our society raising a bunch of high school kids that could be this neurotic about the SATs? It doesn't matter. The Perfect Score makes for a mildly entertaining movie that could have been better. Chris Evans stars as Kyle, and Bryan Greenberg plays Matt - two best buddies frustrated with the SAT exam. They both have big dreams and colleges that they wish to attend, but it may not happen due to their insufficient test scores. Feeling that the test and the system are unfairly ruining their lives, they plot to steal the SAT exam, get the answers and improve their scores. However, it's not a job for two, so they eventually enlist the help of the connected Francesca (Scarlett Johansson), the class brain Anna (Erika Christiansen), the star athlete Desmond (Darius Miles) and the school stoner Roy (Leonardo Nam). Can this rag tag group pull off the Heist of the Century? If you don't believe Heist of the Century, how about Heist of the Year? Week? The Perfect Score is far from perfect, but has its moments. Director Brian Robbins brings great energy to the screen giving the film a good pace for about 2/3rds of the movie. We see the characters' wild imaginations come to life on screen in fun little asides, nice banter between the gang as they plot the heist and cool sequences to introduce each character. Unlike The Big Bounce, this caper is fun, full of wackiness and revolves around six easily understandable and entertaining characters who each bring something special to the movie. Then, in its own fateful words, The Perfect Score goes all Breakfast Club on us as each of the characters starts to search for meaning in their acts and begin to care for one another in the most clichéd ways possible. The male-female hook ups begin, the staring longingly into each other's eyes commences and the stoner starts to find himself after years of running away from his pain. Blech! With three screenwriters on board (Mark Schwahn, Marc Hyman, and John Zack), I suspect one of them came up with this dreadful ending, one wrote the original draft of the script and fleshed out the caper scenes, while another came up with the original concept. Yet, that doesn't make it right. Johansson is the best part of the movie as she plays a typical anti-establishment, rich girl rebel, but brings a depth that exceeds her very common character. She's got sass and sex appeal that reminds you that she was in the running for an Oscar nomination. Johansson is on a different level than the rest of the cast and it shows just by looking at her eyes, which lack the vacancy sign that resides in the eyes of most of her co-stars. She makes Francesca self-assured, intelligent and shows her soft side when needed. On the flip side, Nam makes the most of his silly stoner, Roy. It's a very familiar character, and one that doesn't require an Oscar caliber performance, but he is downright hilarious and full of glee as he steals most scenes. Christensen is too bland as the uptight smart kid who wants to be bad, and Miles acts like he should be a basketball player in the NBA (which he is). The Perfect Score would have been better if it didn't get so serious. 2 Waffles (Out of 4) Copyright 2004 - WaffleMovies.com
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