"Better Off Dead" may be the best movie I have on this list. It sure was hard finding movies to put on this list because Brian has seen just about every movie ever made. It's pretty sad when I couldn't even put "The Jetson's Movie" or "The Parent Trap," because he has already seen them. I've got to start figuring out a way to make watching some of the lame movies fun (for the rest of the crowd). I love watching the movies because of my first love for them when I was a kid/teenager, so I don't require more entertainment.
I hadn't seen "Whatever it Takes" probably since college. I just always remembered the movie for it's moments that made me laugh out loud. I still enjoy some funny parts, but I didn't love the movie as a whole as much as I remembered. The best part of the whole movie is the carnival scene. Watching a little kid get knocked down by a teddy bear 3 times his size brings on the America's Funniest Home Video humor. I don't know how many times I've rewound that one scene. The editing is actually quite horrible during that part, which makes it even better.
"Whatever it Takes" is the classic 90s teenager movie, just above "She's All That" (in my opinion). If you're like me and you enjoy entertainment about high school, then put on your spaghetti strap shirt with mary janes and indulge in this movie. ALSO, it has Shane West in the movie. Who doesn't love "A Walk to Remember?" ;)
"I love you Brian Ryan,"
Lindsey
Lindsey did a pretty good job of describing this "film." It is a very typical, predictable, teen film that falls well short of being funny most of the time. (At least not funny when it's supposed to be; I had a few laughs where I'm sure the director didn't intend for me to laugh.) This one, however, had the distinct misfortune of missing the Teen Movie Boat, as it came out in 2000 which was a year AFTER the big boom on this type of movie had ended. I was aware of "Whatever it Takes" when it originally came out but obviously I never got forced into seeing it like I did with so many other films of this genre.
There are two distinct reasons, in my opinion, why "Whatever" is so much worse than all the other teen movies of its time. First, it has a TERRIBLE soundtrack. Where would "She's All That" or "10 Things I Hate About You" be without, for the time period, a solid soundtrack? A few catchy hits tend to drown out the awful, awful dialogue that pops up so frequently in these movies. Second, there is no legitimate comedic relief. Without Seth Green "Can't Hardly Wait" probably bogs down pretty quickly. In "Whatever it Takes" you've got three or four characters who are all trying to fill the comedic void and unfortunately none of them are, in any way shape or form, legitimately funny.
What I did like about "Whatever" was the game our little crowd played of "who can tell exactly what's about to happen based on the brilliant way in which the director uses foreshadowing." (Note: I used brilliant sarcastically. Stop reading this right now if you didn't catch that.) In the first 10 minutes of the movie we find out that there is a swimming pool under the basketball court at this school and so of course we all begin to guess how this will play out later. Spoiler alert, the court gets opened up during prom! Who knew?! The laughs were many. (Note: this is your second warning about sarcasm. I'm not kidding.)
Other than that, I got two things out of this movie. One, I finally understand a couple of the quotes some friends of mine used a lot in high school (I'm talking to you, Sarah Weaver Wilcoxson). And two, I had time to count the number of DVDs and Blu Rays I have in my collection (255 plus TV seasons). So on the whole, a pretty productive night. Sadly, when I saw Lindsey's list I placed "Whatever it Takes" in the "I might not hate that" category, simply because I had heard of it before. This makes me nervous for the rest of this experience. C-.
There is no best character, line, or scene in this one,
Brian
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