Plot

While Danny's father and mother independently search for love, Danny is on his own desperate quest to find a prom date. Danny's search becomes progressively more pathetic once he and his family learn that Bart, the school's biggest dweeb, not only secured a date for the prom, but got a hotel room as well.

Danny Stein is a high-school senior and class vice president; he's in charge of the prom, along with Camille, his best friend for years. Everyone including Camille and her parents assumes that Danny will ask her to the prom, but he wants something less platonic and more romantic - more memorable. His choices include the sophomore cheerleader he drives to school, a friend of a friend, and a quiet Chinese girl in his classes. With his parents' help (they're going through a divorce), he gets the tickets, rents a tux, reserves a limo, and, over his mother's objections, gets a room at the prom-site hotel. This, everyone believes, is the way to establish memories. Will anything work out?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Bart Got a Room isnt the first movie comedy about nerds, high school, and the senior prom, and it undoubtedly wont be the last. It may not be the best, either, but writer-director Brian Heckers 2008 concoction has enough laughs, charm, amusingly-drawn characters, and winning performances to more than hold its own. For Danny Stein (Steven J. Kaplan), a high school student in Hollywood, Florida, the imminence of the prom is the source of considerable distress; even more distressing is the prospect of booking of a hotel room for himself and his date at the end of the evening. Problem is, Danny (whos a bit of a schlub, but far from a total, like, loser), doesnt have a date yet. The obvious choice is his best friend Camille (Alia Shawkat), whos available and clearly interested, but Danny thinks he can do better--say, with Alice (Ashley Benson), the sophomore hottie who drives to school with him every day. Wrong. As the days, then the hours, dwindle down, Danny, whose parents separation is an added distraction (William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines are perfect as Ernie, whos looking for love on the internet, and Beth, who has a new beau), realizes hes in big trouble, not least because even the titular Bart--a geek so geeky he makes Danny look like Tom Cruise--already has the room thing covered. All of this plays out in ways that are neither surprising nor especially hilarious, but the movie has heart, not to mention a number of cute, quirky scenes (many involving Dannys well-intentioned, but mostly clueless, family). Movies like Bart Got a Room arent really about the destination, anyway; theyre about the journey, and this ones a fun ride. [D-Man2010]

Nerdy high school senior Danny has spent six hundred bucks on the hotel room, the limo and the tux for his prom. He's only missing one thing - the girl. Hampered by well intentioned but clueless advice from his newly divorced parents and unsympathetic mocking from his best friends, Danny battles peer pressure, teen angst and his own raging hormones as he desperately searches for a prom date. Danny's luckless quest turns to panic when he learns that even Bart - the school's biggest dweeb - has secured not only a date but also a hotel room for the night. [D-Man2010]