He’s All That
Run time: 1 Hour 28 minutes
Rating: TV-14
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Summary:
Padgett Sawyer is a teenage influencer who does makeover videos and has become quite popular. One day Padge decides to go visit her boyfriend Jordan while he is recording his music video but when she goes into his trailer, she witnesses him cheating on her with one of his backup dancers. The worst part is that she asked her friend Alden to Livestream the surprise visit and after Padgett has a very big and emotional reaction which the world sees and it causes her to lose followers. After being humiliated and with the threat of losing her sponsorship, Padgett goes back to school angry that people are taking Jordan’s side considering she “created” Jordan and his brand. In response to this Alden bets, Padgett to create a new Jordan and the hard part is Alden and their other friend Quinn pick a very unpopular boy and they pick an antisocial loner named Cameron.
Characters:
Meet Padgett Sawyer, a senior at Cali High, with her nice clothes, 4.0 GPA, and a perfect boyfriend. However, after a rough break up with her boyfriend, she finds her true self. Padgett has two friends, Quinn and Alden. Cameron is a social outcast and has strong opinions on the world around him. He has a sister named Brin and a best friend named Misha.
Austin: 6.5/10
Review:
He’s all that was such an interesting watch for me. I don’t mean interesting as in intriguing, I mean equally good and bad in some weird ways. The acting is not good, and Addison Rae truly looks like a rookie actor. She gets better as we go but never good. Tanner Buchanan on the other hand was really solid. He took a pretty restricted role and did a decent job with it. It was weird to feel like a main character had a smaller role, and it wasn’t a difference I enjoyed. So it’s a bizarre pair of characters, plus some really bad writing which made for some rough characters. I thought the writers started with some decent base characters, but they failed to develop those characters too much. The only growth is beyond cliche, and the dialogue doesn’t do them any favours. I understand this movie is built to be cliche, but a couple of character nuisances would have been awesome. If the dialogue didn’t feel so stiff and awkward, we might have had some better characters, but it’s not good to begin with.
On a positive note, our plot is a little bit better, although still cliche. I thought it was a fairly predictable plot, but it was a lot funnier than I expected. I truly think the plot line saves this movie from being truly horrible because it’s pretty entertaining. It leans into the cliche, and it keeps you from thinking too much about the ridiculousness of what is happening. If you are okay laughing at and with a movie, this might be worth a watch. For the second time in a while, this truly is a popcorn movie. It’s a decent movie to watch with a blank mind, with some funny moments and some decently likeable characters. The moment you start to over analyze this movie for characters, plot, or anything else, it’s going to go sour. If you are looking for a deep movie, with a thoughtful plot that is going to make you think or keep you on the edge of your seat, find a new movie. If not, enjoy Addison Rae’s debut movie.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
I think the highlight of this movie is the karaoke scenes between Padgett and Cameron. It was a bit of a turning point for our characters, and one of many super predictable moments. Even if I saw it coming, I thought it was a lot of fun.
Sebastian: 6.5/10
Review:
This film was exactly what I expected from the first few minutes of the movie. It established itself as an average flick from the moment it started and it was a film that I predicted pretty much the whole way through. The dialogue was pretty cringey and stale with everything being said in the movie being dialogue you’ve heard many times before in other movies. Of course, I’m not trying to say that movies can’t be similar or have repeating elements to other films but you have to have a new element that makes your film distinct and this film doesn’t have an element that makes it stand out. The characters are all pretty standard with Padgett played by Addison Rae being the popular girl who values appearances and other’s opinions and eventually, she learns to value herself and others in a different light. Cameron as played by Tanner Buchanan is a loner who tries to be antisocial and is interested in photography. Of course, he has a softer more caring, and kind side and when he gets a makeover he becomes the most attractive guy at school. The acting in this film is good for the most part with all the side characters doing a good job of balancing comedic and sentimental moments. Tanner does a great job as Cameron showing both his antisocial side and the softer side well. Addison Rae is hard to judge because it’s her first film so she could definitely improve if she continues acting. She is fine most of the time except for emotional scenes where she falls a bit flat. If this film did have one original idea that would be the influencer aspect which I think they explore well and is well utilised in the story. The film did also make me laugh from time to time so that’s never a bad thing. The film may not be that original or amazing but if it appeals to its target demographic that is a positive and I hope they enjoy it.
All in all, this is not a great film and I would classify it as average but it is still way worse on Netflix so if you’re looking for a teen rom-com and you want to watch a new one I would give this a watch.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
My favourite moment was the fight by the pool mostly because it was cool, fun and it let Tanner use some of his Cobra Kai moves which were fun to see.
Nathanyal: 4.0/10
Review:
Well, He’s All That was a movie, and not a good one at that. I’m not going to sugar-coat anything with this movie. Everything was bad or subpar at best. This might be one of my shorter reviews because there isn’t much to say about this movie. When it comes to characters, I found the leads pretty boring. Padgett wasn’t interesting and her character development was slow and cliché. Cameron was better, and he had some amazing qualities. The movie just doesn’t give him time to show those qualities off. Honestly, my favourite characters were most of the supporting cast. They all seemed natural in their roles, and they were more interesting. Plot wise, He’s All That is a train wreck. The plot itself made no sense, and the motivating actions were dumb. In the end nothing really changed.
Overall, He’s All That was a dumb movie. It had no plot, no development, and boring characters. All the situations were absurd and some just didn’t make sense. Watch this one with friends so you can laugh about it together, as watching it alone will make you tear your hair out. It was a pretty cringy movie. This movie does have some good moments of comedy and choreography, but don’t get your hopes up.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
My favourite moment in this movie was the fight scene during Alden’s birthday. I enjoyed the choreography of the fight, and it was the only part of the movie where I wasn’t complaining about what was happening on screen.
