People have been making High School movies since the 80’s. It’s a genre we’ve seen time and time again and not until recently have we seen anything new from it. In 2006 a movie called Brick came out, amazing everyone that saw it. The story didn’t have the usual cast of characters; there was no Jock, there was no Geek, and there was no Preppy Cheerleader. Well, sort of. Brick was unique in the fact that it wasn’t a comedy. It was a noir thriller that kept people watching and didn’t branch out into the idea of high school stereotypes.
This year at Sundance I saw a movie called The Assassination of a High School President. Similarly to Brick, the movie was a noir set in the realm of a Christian high school. Only there’s a difference between the two. Brick wanted to be a gritty crime drama full of suspense and in that way it works. Assassination isn’t trying to be too serious, in fact the reason it works so well is because it plays for laughs. Everything feels so over the top that the movie almost becomes a combination of say Brick and Mean Girls. It has the stereotypes and yet it also has the compelling mystery side to it as well.
The movie focuses on Bobby Funke, a journalist for the school newspaper. After a mysteriously beautiful girl asks him to inspect on the recent stolen SAT’s he begins to snoop around and figure out who it might be. Bruce Willis stars as the principal of the school who is an ex army veteran just trying to run his school. The movie works more as a comedy than as a mystery and the narration that Funke does is hilariously over the top.
The film doesn’t paint high school in the best light, but compared to other teen comedies on the market it’s easy to look past. I had a lot of fun watching Assassination and when the movie is released in August I urge everyone to see it.
Grade - A-
Thursday, January 24, 2008
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