So according to Wikipedia, talks of a remake of She’s all that (1999) began in September 2020, with the original film director returning to direct this remake. The movie stars Addison Rae, Tanner Buchanan, Madison Pettis, Peyton Meyer. It also stars Rachael Leigh Cook and Matthew Lillard from the original movie She’s All That, in different roles. I am not a critic, but I have opinions about movies that I always like to share. So stick around if you want to get my unbiased and truthful take on He’s All That, the movie that has the whole internet in an uproar.
The story was pretty straightforward and there wasn’t much difference between the classic and remake except the fact that it is gender-swapped, so it’s the boy getting the makeover in this version and not the girl. It’s a tale as old as time. Boy meets girl, the girl is popular and boy isn’t; the boy gets a makeover from the girl to become popular and they fall in love while at it. Like I said, it’s pretty straightforward, basic, and familiar. So here are my thoughts on this movie.
First off, Netflix needs to chill with the unnecessary remakes. Sometimes, scratch that most of the time, we want classics to remain classics so instead of remaking these movies, why can’t we just have all these classics on Netflix and other streaming platforms so we can go watch them when we need to. Not all movies need a remake. Why are filmmakers obsessed with introducing the newer generation to classic movies and adding their twist to them when they can just write new movies that would resonate with the newer generation? The kids would be just fine if they do not watch another remake. They could just go watch the original on Netflix or whatever platform these movies are on.
Let’s dive into the movie. If you are expecting critically acclaimed acting, that’s off the plate. I see many people on social media criticizing Addison Rae’s acting who played Padgett, one of the lead characters. Get over it guys, “but she got popular because of doing absolutely nothing on Tiktok”. Yes, I know I know. If I could get popular for doing nothing too, I wouldn’t mind and I am sure a lot of you wouldn’t too. She’s a pretty girl and pretty girl privilege exists, that’s just how the world works. I don’t get why people nitpicked on Addison’s acting alone when, to be honest, the acting from the remaining cast wasn’t all that good. Padgett’s chemistry with Cameron was off. A good chemistry between the leads might have saved the movie, but the chemistry was lacking and wasn’t sizzling. Their interactions were very cringey to watch. I don’t know if I should have blamed that on their lack of chemistry or the bad acting. It was very painful to watch.
There were a lot of incorporations in the movie for it to appeal to the Gen Z kids and I respect that, but it was unnecessary. There was a weird karaoke scene that warranted Padgett and Cameron singing together which was embarrassing to watch, an absurd dance competition which was unnecessary and how can we forget our noble TikTok influencers making cameos. There was a particular cameo by Bryce Hall which ended up being awkward because Addison and Bryce aren’t dating again so that was very hard to watch. I believe there are cooler ways to get the attention of teenagers than a dance battle, which was very off, by the way.
We all expected Padgett’s character to be a lot like Cher from Clueless. At least I did, and I was so disappointed that it was far from it. I expected a snobby, spoilt, rich and pretty teenage girl who everybody wanted to be like or be with, but Padgett was far from that. I mean, she got the pretty side on lock, but the rest was meh. She was saving for college?? That’s not a bad thing but why make her character poor. At least they could have stuck with this part of the story from the classic, but no, they made her poor. That’s not what the viewers wanted. We wanted someone that commanded attention like Cher from Clueless or Sharpay from the High School Musical. Padgett was too boring. There was no spunk, no attitude, and no pettiness. The character fell short for me. Let’s not get started with the awful fashion she had. They just had Padgett in pink for most of the movie. This was where they could have gotten the attention of the newer generation. Her fashion was too bland, predictable, and boring. They referenced the Great Gatsby in the movie as one of Padgett’s friends threw a Great Gatsby’s theme party, which stresses my point exactly, which is why bother on a remake if all they do is refer to the old stuff.
I don’t have a lot to say about Cameron. For those who don’t know who this is, he was the male lead in this movie and was played by Tanner Buchanan . His character was as expected. I mean, no one wanted to watch the movie for the guy, but I guess many people stayed for him. Thankfully, his character wasn’t the brooding teenager who played the guitar, but they made him the brooding teenager who was a photographer and also loved riding horses?? How can we forget our noble side characters, who are usually the best friends of the main character and always a person of colour? We also had the mean character who was formerly best friends with the lead character. There was also the popular ex-boyfriend who was a jerk to the lead character, broke up with her but wanted her back. Hence, we had all the elements of a Teenage Romance Movie according to American movie standards. It was right off the bat. The storyline was all too familiar, so expect nothing out of the ordinary.
To be completely honest, I just wanted to finish the movie as soon as possible so there wasn’t much that I particularly enjoyed. The music was far off and wasn’t special. There was no memorable soundtrack except the cover of the song Kiss me from the original movie. We had some characters from the Original movie too, which was very much appreciated. Padgett’s mother was Rachael Leigh Cook, who played one of the lead characters from the Original movie and we also had Matthew Lillard playing the School principal, who played the famous reality star Brock Hudson from the Original movie. For people that grew up with the classic, I am not saying this is a good enough reason to see the movie, but it would be nostalgic. The song Kiss me from the original movie being included for this movie was a pleasant touch.
Here are my final thoughts about this movie. We did not need this movie at all, but would that stop filmmakers from making more movies similar to this? NO. I would rate He’s All That a 4.5. The plot was bland; well the acting was decent but it was insufficient and the music from the movie wouldn’t get anyone’s attention, which brings me to the conclusion that this movie wasn’t All That.
