societyliver

I watched this expecting a steamy teacher-student romance. What I ended up with instead was a weird stalkerfest where a teenager and an old guy harass a woman who is visibly uncomfortable throughout every interaction.

The characters here are confusing and ill defined, with various seemingly totally contradictory traits. Is Max Fischer a lady's man, or a total weirdo? A genius or an idiot? The most popular guy at school, or the loser everyone hates?

The only thing that seems clear is that he's a absurdly arrogant, unlikeable, manipulative and a compulsive liar. His compulsive lying adds to the confusion throughout the movie, as it's not at all clear which parts of his history can actually be taken at face value, versus things he's just saying to get his way, and there's no indication given to the viewer as to which is the intended interpretation.

Given the high praise I'd heard given for this movie I had expected much more than what I ended up with. While the movie can be somewhat humorous in playing off 90s cliquey archetypes, that's about it as far as entertainment value is concerned. It seemed that these archetypes were relied on far too much as plot devices to the point of making it difficult to feel invested in any of the characters as individuals and their conflicts.

With all that said, Dan Hedaya really steals the show as a wisecracking, stern and relatively sensible father figure who sits as a contrast to every other character.

It's just quite funny and silly to watch the 'war' becomes increasingly convoluted and absurd. The animation style and humor is reminiscent of Xavier Renegade Angel, albeit with a more juvenile sense of humor. It's by no means an artistic masterpiece, but it's a fun watch on occasion, although an adult is likely to get bored of it very quickly.

I definitely think not having any dialogue was a good artistic choice, and is a major reason for the show's international appeal in much the same way that Mr. Bean took the world by storm due to its universal dialogueless humor.

By no means is it intellectual content, it's the media equivalent of popcorn. I'd still rather watch this than Friends though.