He’s All That (2021)

He’s All That (2021)

 

2/10

Starring

Addison Rae

Tanner Buchanan

Madison Pettis

Rachael Leigh Cook

 

Directed by Mark Waters

 

If I could rate this movie lower, I would, but this is the lowest I can go while acknowledging that at least someone sat in a chair and screamed “action” when production started.

I was fourteen when She's All That (1999) was released, and I’ve seen it so many times I’ve lost count. The movie is a ’90s classic for people like us, a lasting homage to high school rom-coms at their peak. This movie, however, is a cringeworthy embarrassment to She's All That. This remake, with its gender-swapped twist, feels like a ninety-minute-long TikTok video that just drags on and on.

I don’t know who Addison Rae is, but thanks to this movie, I’ll forever avoid her films. She’s the reason people go to acting classes and why acting coaches get paid. Her performance is spectacularly bad—so bad that even a Razzie Award would be too kind for the massacre she committed here. This movie is best left ignored.

Following the main plot of the original, we have the lead girl in high school, Padgett (Addison Rae), who’s dating the leading guy in school. When he messes up their relationship, she accepts a challenge from her friends to turn the school’s least popular boy, Cameron (Tanner Buchanan), into prom king. I remember She's All That handled this transformation with some respect for the characters involved. In this remake, the makeover feels insulting. The whole “be yourself” social media message gets completely drowned out in this mess.

To maintain her status as the top girl and get revenge on her boyfriend, Padgett takes on the challenge.

The only thing I enjoyed was seeing Rachel Leigh Cook again. But seriously, what was she doing in this movie? She was miles ahead of Rae in acting ability, and seeing her play Rae’s mother only highlighted how out of her depth Rae was. They butchered everything that made the original special. The iconic “I was a bet” reveal scene? It almost made me puke.

I guess this is what passes for movies now: bad acting, a terrible script, and people just talking at each other. And if you remember the magical soundtrack of She's All That, prepare to be disappointed. They didn’t even keep the original Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer. Instead, they got some artist (Cyn, apparently—someone I’ve never heard of) to cover it. Her version was almost similar but still a step down from the magnificent ’90s track.

There’s no reason to watch this, but it’s floating on Netflix if you’re feeling masochistic.