From the Scary Movie team trying to make something as well-made as Airplane! and Mel Brooks’ good streak came a take on all the Teen Romance-Coming-of-Age comedies. It was also Chris Evans’ big debut before he became best known as Captain America or before Randy Quaid went bat-shit crazy.
The main storyline they follow to parody was the recently successful She’s All That with numerous nods to the big six from John Hughes, primarily Pretty in Pink. It was cool they found room for the Nineties revival: Can’t Hardly Wait, Cruel Intentions, American Pie and Ten Things I Hate About You but I didn’t see any references to Clueless. The only flick outside the genre which bluntly hits you in the face was American Beauty. Thankfully, they managed to get Better Off Dead in there once and it was one of its best surprise jokes. It is a bummer they didn’t have much luck getting cameos from many of the past stars, sadly just the late great Paul Gleason, Molly Ringwald, Lacy Chabert and Melissa Joan Hart. I figured Judd Nelson, Alan Ruck and Michael Anthony Hall had spare time. Then there’s always the budget concerns.
Is it funny? Now and then. I doubt I would’ve laughed more at Teen when it was released 22 years ago in theaters. It’s just trying too hard without having the jokes tested harder as Mel Brooks or the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker would’ve done. Maybe the Farrelly Brothers in their prime. Today’s audience? The Grown-up Mills can go, oh yeah, I remember seeing it in high school. Gen Z? Deer in the headlights and how they think the world gives a rat’s ass about their outrage while ignoring connotation, context and History with comedy. They’d demand Hulu re-post it with their editing notes, turning it into a 10-minute TikTok clip which is still too long for their shitty attention spans.
OK, I admit to being an old man there. I had to take the cheap shot as I grow tired of them pissing on Blazing Saddles or believe it or not, The Marx Brothers. Comedy evolves and morphs. I agree on how things we as a collective society found funny in the recent past transform into something we regret. For my generation, several elements from Revenge of the Nerds, the pinnacle of the Eighties Teen Sex Romps, make me go, ouch! All of Tri-Lambda House would be rightfully in prison for what they did the to rival sorority. I just roll my eyes at the “trigger warnings” it gets. The R rating was enough to let the audience know what they were in for and the majority of it alongside other “cringey” classics from Bob Hope, Cantiflas (sic), the Marx Brothers, Mae West, etc. will continue to endure. They remain genuinely funny any numerous levels and well-made.
Will Not Another Teen Movie? Sadly, no. At least I saw it and can say, nice try. It was good to see Molly wrap things up with a zinger.