“My other new favorite time to go to the movies is immediately after work on Fri at the Somerville theater. Desperately fighting the urge to make a pun about The To Do List being on the top of my–nevermind.
Another summer staple: the teen sex comedy. Most recently there was Easy A and Superbad, but we can trace these back to American Pie, and even further back. This year’s twist, it’s a girl (Aubrey Plaza) trying to get busy. How progressive. For me though, the best twist was the 90s. Yeah, the biggest selling factor that was left out of the trailers that I saw was that it was set in 1993. Awesome!
Loved the nostalgia factor. Every cheesey 90s joke made me at least smile, if not chuckle, or even laugh. I typically enjoy raunchy comedy, but that didn’t quite connect this time. It seemed like some of it was going for the shock value, and some of it was going for the funny. The two didn’t intersect too often. Also, the plot was a bit obvious and it felt like we were plodding thru, just trying to get to the next item on the list which would hopefully bring the next jokes as well.
As is often the case with these teen movies, the best characters were actually the parents. This time we had Clark Gregg as the uptight and in denial father, and the more open and understanding mother was Connie Britton. Watching this movie, I lived for their scenes. I also really liked Rachel Bilson as the slutty older sister. Aubrey Plaza is certainly making a name for herself as an up and coming comedienne (although I preferred last year’s Safety Not Guaranteed). Johnny Simmons was a pleasant surprise, but he tried way too damn hard.
Overall, good effort, but something fell short. Maybe relying too much on the sex jokes, when there were far greater strengths it could have highlighted.
The To Do List – \m/ \m/ \n