Growing up and maturing into an adult can bring on a multitude of feelings. Hormones are raging and everything is changing at a faster rate than normal as this process happens. Of course most adolescence experience this as they go through the education system; learning from their parents, friends and their own senses. One particular actor that many could relate to during this period of time was Devon Werkheiser from Nickelodeon's Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. Young adults were proud to be a part of and go through the motions with Werkheiser's star making show. After the show ended, Werkheiser still had that image of playing a school kid. Here this film plays more into some adult themes which is good, except for how its executed. That's probably the biggest issue with this production.
Directed by Barbara Rothenborg in their first theatrical film and co-writing with Foren Frellesen, this is actually the remake of a Danish movie of the same name from a decade before. Based on a novel from Dennis Jürgensen, the Danish version actually has several sequels. The story is about a geeky freshman Victor (Devon Werkheiser) having an unrealistic crush on a taken senior in his high school Anya (Scout Taylor-Compton). Anya is with a pompous jock named Peter (Ken Luckey) and is friends with Marisa (Tania Verafield). Victor's only got his unhelpful buddies Ernie (Nicholas Braun) and Nick (Sean Marquette). Meanwhile, Victor and Anya's little brothers Zack (Daniel Polo) and Brian (Adam J. Bernstein) play pranks on both their siblings because family stereotypes. Victor's problem is that he doesn't have the confidence to talk to Anya, and when he does, he gets hiccups.
At the same time, Anya hopes to lose her virginity to someone she finds truly special. At the moment she's not sure if Peter's the one. The biggest red flag in this story is Anya's character arc. Not sure what the legal age of consent is for the people of Denmark but in the US, a senior in high school, who should be 18, looking to fornicate with anyone younger than them is a no. Why couldn't Victor and his friends also be geeky seniors in high school? That would be one less counter against this film. The story itself is also fairly cliché. What teen drama hasn't depicted a down on their luck rejected protagonist that somehow pulls all kinds of stops to get the attention of their ever so out of reach love of their life? There isn't really much to go into how things occur because a familiar viewer of this genre could guess how most scenes that are set up will go.
It's unfortunate because there are some interesting actors attached to this project. And because this is a comedy, there is going to be dialog that's supposed to be funny but not much of it is. Most of it just strange in how it's executed or just completely nonsensical when thinking about how it makes any logical sense. The characters of Zack and Brian are the worst little brothers and are actually quite crass. Also their moms and dads are even worse as parents. Perhaps the conversations between Victor and Anya's friends respectively are more in line with what viewers would expect from those particular characters. But the others just seem a little too out there. Despite all this though the cast of actors perform the best they can given the material. Being that Devon Werkheiser came from Ned's he naturally fit the bill.
Scout Taylor-Compton at the time just got off playing in Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009). There's also appearances from James Eckhouse, Ann Cusack, Octavia Spencer and even Ray Wise, who by far is the most entertaining even if he shows up only once and a while. The cinematography was adequately shot for the production. Handled by Steven Bernstein who also worked on The Waterboy (1998), Monster (2003) and White Chicks (2004), the shots filmed fit the right scene even though it won't blow anyone's mind. Lastly the music by Raney Shockne worked for the film too. By no means should any viewer think that a score would be available because it wouldn't seeing that it's no blockbuster production. Overall though the cues work with the scenes even if they aren't memorable.
The actors all do what they can, the music is appropriate for the style of the film as well as the camerawork. Unfortunately, the writing is not strong enough though. The premise is an awkward setup dealing with differing legal ages, the dialog feels a bit out of place and the story itself has been done many times before.
