The Perfect Score is the story of six high school students who believe that their desired futures depend upon a good score on the SAT and as a result plot to steal the test. However, during the process they begin to learn that their lives are a lot more complicated than just a score on a standardized test. The real question is will this movie score at the top of its class? Or is it Not Another Teen Movie?
I have to admit that I went into this movie with very low expectations, since the last high school movie I enjoyed starred Anthony Michael Hall and premiered almost 20 years ago.
In the beginning, The Perfect Score did very little to bust out of the standard mold from which most teen movies are cast; the characters were typical, their desires were predictable, and the movie was headed in a direction that could be seen a mile away. Chris Evans plays the main character, Kyle and his conversations with his buddy Matty (Bryan Greenberg) were almost painful as they went through the motions in a lame attempt to build drama, and set up the plot.
To my surprise, once the plot was drawn out, it started to get better. The improvement was the introduction of more characters, in particular, the character of Roy (Leonard Nam). Nam providing some much needed comic relief, playing an un-motivated stoner, half-genius, he did a great job of throwing a unique spin on what could have been a very cliched part.
Other notable performances include Lost in Translation‘s Scarlett Johansson, who plays Francesca, who shines as the dark daughter of the head of the SAT Corporation. Erika Christensen is also good as the almost perfect valedictorian whose future is not her own, but has been pre-determined by her parents.
Another real surprise was the job done by real life NBA star Darius Miles, playing Desmond. Miles has a significant role in the film and does a good job carrying out his relationship with his mother in a way that we can all relate to. Even though the producers cast Miles as a basketball player, we have seen ballers do a lot worse (Shaquille O’Neal).
The Perfect Score starts off poor and over stylized but halfway through it redeems itself, somewhat, and becomes a pretty good movie. The change occurs when the movie stops focusing on the action of stealing the SAT, and begins to focus on the characters motivations. The characters are allowed to develop and break out of the stereotypes they have been painted into.
The Perfect Score is very much in the vein of one of my favorite teen flicks, The Breakfast Club, one more group of high school students trying to figure out who they are, and enjoying the journey along the way.
