Assassination of a High School President

I had never heard of this movie and found it laying around in one of my friends large DVD collections. After reading the back I thought I would hate it. I don't know why I torture myself watching movies that I think are going to make me cry to the gods to stop people from making these horrible artsy films, but I do. It seemed like a low budget stylized sort of art film that managed to pull in some mid level stars and in aging one in Bruce Willis. Not my kind of film. I was wrong!(apparently ignoring my gut turns out to be a good idea, but usually it's still torture)

This was really a fun quirky, little movie that I actually enjoyed. The story is fairly sophomoric. A high school cheating scandal that the student newspaper, and the grizzled old war veteran Principal (Bruce Willis) are trying to get to the bottom of.

The acting in this one is admittedly over the top, but that is the strength of this movie. It is suppose to be over the top which provides the humor throughout. Mischa Barton plays the pretty girl, so that was no stretch, Bruce Willis's tough guy image works wonderfully for his character as well.

I won't get into the whole plot/ storyline as anyone can read it above, but it was a pleasantly surprising, humorous story that I would definitely recommend. I am usually not even into this kind of movie but I really enjoyed it. It was much better than sitting through another stupid Harry Potter movie that's for sure.

So if you find yourself bored with nothing to watch, pop this fun little gem in the DVD player. Its a fun one that I think is definitely underrated and worth a view.

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I'd been resisting watching this movie mainly because of Mischa Barton but thankfully a trailer for the movie convinced me otherwise or else I'd have missed this little gem.

For me this movie was a neat satire of several types of movie settings. It's a mystery through and through but it satirizes styles such as 1940s detective noir, prison dramas, conspiracy theories, and high school movies. And it does it well to a certain extent.

The movie is not perfect- it's not that well polished and I felt that some of the actors were a little to laid back but it's a little nitpick. The tone of the mystery was well maintain throughout with subplots and little twisters popping along to keep the movie going. Sure the mystery wasn't mystery-proof...you could guess where it was heading before it happened but it was still a fun ride.

The performances were decent, not brilliant, but not over the top. Mischa Barton was the sole sore point- she didn't really do anything with her bad girl character. Perhaps it may be because she wasn't given much screen time but in that case why have her. The movie wasn't going to be a must see for everyone in any case and any no name fledgling, and better looking, actress could have done an able job. Still, I'm biased against her so I still maintain she sucked and brought the movie down a little.

I'd still recommend this movie as it worth watching- the mystery is great- who stole the SAT sheets and it's fun watching Bobby Funke try to meander his way to the truth, much like a roving ace reporter, and there's never a dull moment.

It's the coming-of-age of a gum-chewing gumshoe, from geek to sleek, in the 'meanhalls' of the school that never sleeps. And as such, it's one hilarious genre-spoof that actually works on all levels, the kind that when you're not laughing out right you're grinning from ear to ear. I'd even say it drives a stake thru Twi'blight, especially in regards to the hyper-true-love-of-the-super-mature-movie-teens.

I loved the 'school as prison' backdrop- Shawshank meets Hamlet 2 sort of thing, but neither over-the-top nor under-fed. The bad guys are neither psychotic nor one-dimensional while the good guys (and gal), well, they're not angels and this, again, is pitch-perfect and so refreshing compared to the usual Hollywood polarization.. and kudos on the editing, the dialogue, the pace - everything really.

One questionable casting choice however is Mischa Barton. I can't seem to come up with a better alternative and she is OK but nothing more -as opposed to the rest of the cast. She seems to have some kind of acting-facial-paralysis, very noticeable in her last scene, and for her sake, I hope she learns to transcend this botox-haze she shares with Kirsten Dunst among others. But this is truly a minor (possible) blemish in an otherwise awesome little movie where the whodunnit is somewhat gratuitous but then, you wouldn't want it any other way.

"The name's Bobby Funke...I write for the paper" as soon as this dialogue came up in the opening few minutes, I thought hmm...maybe this film would be interesting. As it turned out, after about 90 minutes from that time, I think it was an interesting film but not entirely. As ambiguous as this sounds, the film almost entirely was carried off by the good performance from its lead Reece Thompson. He was just about perfect for the role of Funke.

The pace of the film is very nice and the story{mystery} unveils nicely. Though predictable at times, the screenplay never gave up all its cards before the climax. The music was well suited and the side characters did their job well except for a few.

Now the biggest culprit is Mischa Barton. For some reason she was never convincing enough and always appeared very phony. Least to say she didn't immerse herself into the character. Though we all know she is not famous for her acting skills, she didn't put her 100% behind the role. For all her fans there is some good news...she shows off her boobs in this film.

Now, this film is no Oscar winner or a GEM or one of the best ever and I'm positive the film-maker never intended it to be BUT its quite enjoyable if you can look beyond Mischa Barton and to a small extent the predictability of the plot. I must add, it has quite a few funny moments. The dialogue is good at some instants and horrible at others.

While some may compare this to Brick, the 2005 similarly-set High School film noir, Assassination is much more comparable to Chinatown, which is clearly it's biggest influence. In fact, you'll see lines lifted right out of the film. But is it good? Yes, actually, it's quite good. Clearly, the filmmakers here were not taking this quite as seriously as either Brick or Chinatown, and it pays off with a fun, funny, sometime campy, film noir with a good mystery and some well acted roles.

The writing presents a stylish script with dialogue that is often funny and over the top. Bruce Willis is especially mentionable as a veteran-turned-principle who pines over his time spent in the military taking out bad guys and his hate for chewing gum. He's perfectly over the top. Reece Thompson also does a great job as the lead character, playing up the gumshoe role with relish. It's fun to see him be him and follow him on his journey.

One line in the film goes something like "high school is simple...yet it's not." The film does a particularly good job of showing this throughout in scenes that inspire laughs. We have a suspension hall that acts like a prison, and is presented in such a way as to inspire this comparison. We have an assassination attempt that...well, I won't spoil it. But suffice to say, this scene in particular demonstrates exactly what I am talking about. It's a good revelation of how high school can be: in the end it seems simple, but while in, high school can be anything but.

The film is very entertaining and should be fun for anyone looking for a good noir. It's not serious like it's inspirations, but it does contain a good mystery, some good acting stints, and some fun dialogue. I recommend it for anyone looking for something slightly different to watch on a Saturday night.