It's not often I find myself watching a family friendly movie outside the superhero and animated genres but when a movie has a cast of great comedians such as Lauren Graham and Andy Daly, it provided me with enough curiosity to check it out.
The story is about Rafe Khatchadorian, an aspiring artist starting middle school after being expelled from his previous school. Along with his friend Leo, he decides to break every single rule in the school's code of conduct.
I'll be honest. I randomly saw this on Netflix and decided to take a leap of faith on this. And as I expected, it's pretty cheesy. In fact there are a whole bunch of school related movie clichés such as:
. Bully who redeems himself
. Necessary Romantic love interest
. Mean teacher who serves as antagonist
. Scene stealing sibling
. Quirky mom
. Happy ending
But despite my complaints, I still found the movie to be enjoyable. It had heart (whatever that means) and it was kinda funny. Plus it had a plot twist which I seriously did not see coming. Not to mention in the second half it got a little dark, but not dark enough to really alter the overall tone of the movie.
And lastly, I think the casting for this movie was pretty good. Griffin Gluck as Rafe handled being a frustrated teen rather well. And Andy Daly as the principal was great too. I had no idea he could pull off being a villain but he really pulled through. My only problem with the casting was Adam Pally as Rafe's teacher who I felt was underutilized but he did fine with whatever scenes he had.
Overall, this movie was pretty good despite its aforementioned issues. If you have 90 minutes to spare with your family this movie serves as a nice way to spend some time together. (Or if you want to watch it alone, that's cool too)
Quote of the special: 'I don't know what stinks more, your attitude or my suit'
The story is about Rafe Khatchadorian, an aspiring artist starting middle school after being expelled from his previous school. Along with his friend Leo, he decides to break every single rule in the school's code of conduct.
I'll be honest. I randomly saw this on Netflix and decided to take a leap of faith on this. And as I expected, it's pretty cheesy. In fact there are a whole bunch of school related movie clichés such as:
. Bully who redeems himself
. Necessary Romantic love interest
. Mean teacher who serves as antagonist
. Scene stealing sibling
. Quirky mom
. Happy ending
But despite my complaints, I still found the movie to be enjoyable. It had heart (whatever that means) and it was kinda funny. Plus it had a plot twist which I seriously did not see coming. Not to mention in the second half it got a little dark, but not dark enough to really alter the overall tone of the movie.
And lastly, I think the casting for this movie was pretty good. Griffin Gluck as Rafe handled being a frustrated teen rather well. And Andy Daly as the principal was great too. I had no idea he could pull off being a villain but he really pulled through. My only problem with the casting was Adam Pally as Rafe's teacher who I felt was underutilized but he did fine with whatever scenes he had.
Overall, this movie was pretty good despite its aforementioned issues. If you have 90 minutes to spare with your family this movie serves as a nice way to spend some time together. (Or if you want to watch it alone, that's cool too)
Quote of the special: 'I don't know what stinks more, your attitude or my suit'