She's All That/Down to You [DVD] [1999]

She's All That is the better of the two films, both starring Freddie Prinze Jr in a similar role. It has a better soundtrack (Remy Zero, for example) & more fun elements (Matthew Lillard dancing to Rick James, a cameo from Sarah Michelle Gellar) than Down to You. Plus it has a big bonus in having the gorgeous Rachel Leigh Cook (Josie & The Pussycats) in the lead role- though you know that when those glasses come off etc, a nubile vixen is beneath the outsider-dog (are these people blind?) And you know the lead guy Zach (of course) did it for a wager, in a Pretty Woman kinda way. And you know that Zach's best friend will try & hit on her, just like James Spader did on Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink? It's kind of charming & has some great supporting turns from Kevin Pollack & Anna Pacquin- pity that the film turns into drivel towards the end, a rather inconsiquential ending & the idea that our kooky outsider (Ms Boggs) has moved from being as foxy as Thora Birch in Ghost World to being just another preppie clone in designer goods, with the ideal heterosexual relationship (the political elements she talked about were abandoned, apparently all she wanted to be was shallow & in a couple. How deep!). Liked the dancing though, as I believe all films should have them...

Down to You isn't quite as good- the soundtrack's poor, the characters mildly change over a long period & Prinze Jr plays that same role again (I spose that's dead in the water, following Not Another Teen Movie?). It has some very poor writing, isn't able to give sufficient material to the ultra-sublime Selma Blair (Storytelling) & has dark irritating subplots involving porn that recall the equally so-so Loser. Prinze Jr is called 'Al', which is irritating when his father is played by The Fonz (Henry Winkler) & his character never develops or changes & like all US characters has endless clothes, lives in utopia- & IT STILL DOESN'T WORK OUT!!!!!

Nice cameo by that guy from That 70s Show who has the misfortune to go out with the talent-free Brittany Murphy (exception: Clueless) as 'Jim Morrison' & the sassy Rosario Dawson (Kids, Josie & the Pussycats) is eye candy of the highest variety- though as underused as Blair. The style generally pilfers from Annie Hall- such as the split-screen moments or the parts where the adult characters walk in on their childhood lives. But sadly it's not as deep as that, or even stuff like THe Sure Thing (Al's mate The Monk reminds you of Anthony Edwards in that film). It all seems to be much ado about nothing & I hate films that put soul music in, as they think it's a short cut to 'soul'- there, now we have deepness. I think not...

Plus points- the food elements, the fact that people smoke, Selma Blair, Rosario Dawson, the lead character drinking his ex-girlfriend's brand of shampoo & the lovely Julia Stiles (the thinking person's Reese Witherspoon!). Call it a date movie, but you'll have to watch Requiem for a Dream or THe Bad Lieutenant to get rid of the cloying sense of banality.

So, an OK double pack of US teen movies- pity they can't be as dark as previous works in the mode- such as River's Edge, Heathers & Kids. Pity also that Down to You nicks the end device of Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy (1997)- a book of a relationship being written. Still, it's not all bad- Rachel Leigh Cook in a bikini can offer decades of entertainment...