The DUFF

Courtesy of Lionsgate, CBS Films, Vast Entertainment, and Wonderland Sound and Vision

Based on the book of the same name by Kody Keplinger, "The DUFF" is a teen romantic comedy that both has a feel-good female friendly vibe, and obvious and clichéd characters and situations. As much as I wanted to love this for its silliness and relatability, it really was another run of the mill teen comedy.

 The film advocates for women to all get along, the class structure of high school being demolished, and everyone feeling beautiful about themselves. On the flip side it features unrealistic dialogue, unrelatable characters that have strange motives, and it's really not all that funny. Mae Whitman is an amazing everywoman who is fun, beautiful, and dorky in the best of ways. To say that in the past she wouldn't have been able to be cast as the romantic lead in a film is an understatement. Seeing a fresh, relatable female character is beyond great, it's fan-freaking-tastic. On the other hand, though she is shown to be dorky, obsessed with cult, and definitely sarcastic in wit, her character isn't anything new. She's not quite manic-pixie-dreamgirl level, because she is the lead, but she's definitely borderline.

 Her relationship with our romantic lead escalates quickly, and there's very little chemistry between them. One minute they hate each other, the next they're flippant, and finally they fall in love. Other, much worse films, have worked because the two leads possess chemistry, making it a good guilty pleasure. There's nothing guilty about watching "The DUFF." It's a shoulder shrug at best.

 The best moments of the film involve Ken Jeong as a high school teacher, the great references to Vincent Price, Lucio Fulci, and Universal monster movies, some subtle yet funny moments between the two leads, and it's great ending scene. The one thing to remember is that this film spawned DUFF, and it is now in our lexicon, along with “fleek” and “ratchet.” Just excellent.