Not Another Teen Movie (2001) starring Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans, Jaime Pressly, Eric Christian Olsen, Mia Kirshner, Deon Richmond, Eric Jungmann, Ron Lester, Cody McMains, Randy Quaid, Molly Ringwald directed by Joel Gallen Movie Review

Not Another Teen Movie (2001)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Chyler Leigh and Chris Evans in Not Another Teen Movie

Not Another Spoof Movie

Having been dumped by his girlfriend, school hunk Jake Wyler (Chris Evans - Fierce People) makes a bet with his friends, that he can't make social misfit Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh) into the prom queen. But after spending time trying to win Janey over, Jake realises that he is falling for her.

If that plot synopsis sounds like every other teen movie you've ever watched it's meant to be because "Not Another Teen Movie" is another spoof movie. As such there is barely a second or scene which isn't trying to spoof one teen movie or another. Sadly though that doesn't actually mean it's that funny because there is a right way and a wrong way of going about these spoof movies and sadly "Not Another Teen Movie" goes about it the wrong way.

Teenage spoofery in Not Another Teen Movie

The trouble is that whilst the writers, and there were 5 of them, have cobbled together a storyline which runs through the most common elements when it comes to teen movies the emphasis is most certainly not on the storyline. Instead "Not Another Teen Movie" is a movie which throws scene after scene of movie references at you as it delivers it's own version of famous scenes switching them about so that they are over the top. This means we get spoofs of Jason Biggs opening scene to "American Pie", a copy of the kiss scene from "Cruel Intentions" merged with a character from "Never been Kissed". And it goes on as we are assaulted with one spoof scene after another.

Now I know the whole point of spoof movies is to poke fun at both other movies and the genre but there is a fine line between just being a series of crude spoofs and a clever comedy. Sadly "Not Another Teen Movie" goes for the complete crude with very little imagination used when it comes to spoofing these other movies. Yes it pokes fun at how daft the whole teen comedy genre is and how predictable most of the movies are but a little bit of imagination and crafting the various scenes into a more coherent story would certainly have made it a much better movie.

It ends up that you spend more time guessing which movies they have tried to spoof some of which are "American Pie", "Pretty in Pink", "The Breakfast Club" and "Road Trip" to name but a few in a very long list. But even doing that becomes a little tedious because elements are repeated making it turn into an almost monotony of movie jokes.

Having said all of that "Not Another Teen Movie" does have a handful of nice touches from setting it at the John Hughes High School through to the recreation of various sets from other movies such as Jim's bedroom in "American Pie" and the detention hall in "The Breakfast Club". Talking of which Paul Gleason puts in a mildly amusing cameo as his famous character as the teacher in "The Breakfast Club" and he is not alone as Molly Ringwald, Melissa Joan Hart and Sean Patrick Thomas also spring up.

As for the performances of the main stars Chyler Leigh who plays Janey Briggs, Chris Evans as Jake Wyler, Jaime Pressly as Priscilla and Deon Richmond as Malik amongst numerous others all seem to be having fun playing over the top stereotypes but there really is little to wow you. And in a way there shouldn't because in the bigger picture "Not Another Teen Movie" is a throw away movie.

What this all boils down to is that "Not Another Teen Movie" is another one of those spoof movies from the last decade which fails to really work. It has a storyline but is too busy trying to spoof as many movies as possible ending up feeling like a series of crude set pieces and although it has a couple of nice moments is pretty basic.


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