Back in January critic Charlie Lyne made his feature debut with the documentary Beyond Clueless, a comprehensive dissection of the ‘Teen movie’ which lovingly explored the various tropes and conventions of the genre. Given the remit there were, understandably, few films cited beyond 2006, with perhaps the most recent example to have any lasting cultural impact being 2004’s Mean Girls (over a decade and still so fetch).
This is not to say there haven’t certainly been any impactful Teen movies in the last decade. In fact with the YA adaptation boom there are arguably more than ever. However the only one to tackle the high school experience is Divergent with its premise serving as an (over)extended metaphor for failing to fit into any one clique.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower fit the mould, what with actually being set in a high school, but fell short of greatness by simply not being very good. Perhaps the last truly great high school movie was 2010’s Easy A, widely considered the breakout hit for its then-rising star Emma Stone. All of which begs the question: are we due a great American teen movie?
This week’s release The DUFF, serves the latest attempt to take on the mantle of being ‘the’ teen movie and similar to Easy A provides a breakout role for its star Mae Whitman (Evil Ex Roxy in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). For those who don’t frequent Urban Dictionary a ‘DUFF’ is a social circle’s Designated Ugly Fat Friend, the effective runt of the pack whose lesser attractiveness makes his or her friends more desirable by comparison.
[pull_quote_right]Not especially pretty, not especially smart, [Bianca is] an ordinary high school girl with her own flaws and nuances.[/pull_quote_right]
Playing the nominal DUFF to her more conventionally attractive leads is the kind of thing Whitman has mastered since first entering the pop culture consciousness. In Arrested Development, Whitman came to prominence in the role of Ann Veal, George Michael’s oft forgotten rebound girl. A character depicted as so bland and unnoticeable that at one point she was abandoned in Mexico with little concern.
Thankfully Whitman is not one to be typecast and so here her character of Bianca is a different creature altogether. If The DUFF were a lesser film Bianca would likely be a runway model hidden beneath unflattering glasses. If not that then she would have some other exaggerated quality to play to the audience’s aspirations, maybe a mathelete or would-be artist.
And yet while many of her supporting characters are outlandish or even cartoonish Bianca remains thoroughly grounded. She’s not an archetype you’d find in any of the high school cliques. Not especially pretty, not especially smart, just an ordinary high school girl with her own flaws and nuances.
It’s strange to find it refreshing, to see the lead in a High School comedy actually resemble what a High Schooler might look like. How The DUFF approaches the minutia of high school itself is however a different matter. 
The film is spot on with the observation that the divide between the jock/nerd/cheerleader cliques is more blurred than ever but never approaches, say 21 Jump Street’s level of insight into the matter. What makes this particularly frustrating is the fact that Whitman’s co-star Robbie Amell plays very much into the Jock archetype with any great dimension shown in precious few moments.
The film has similar stumbling blocks when approaching the lingo and habits of modern day teens. Early on see have an extended gag in which Bianca and her friends have a falling out, which they express through proceeding to unfriend/unfollow/untag on various forms of social media. It’s an idea that would be funny with the right execution. Unfortunately the scene that plays out feels more like an adult-age screenwriter’s idea of how teenagers view social media rather than something genuine.
All of which makes The DUFF just a few edits short of being the truly great high school movie this generation is waiting for. It’s certainly better than most and with a little exposure it’ll be a star-making turn for Whitman. But it’s not as powerful as say The Breakfast Club or as funny as Dazed and Confused. For now it seems that the great High School movie of the decade is still sometime away…unless Paper Towns turns out awesome I guess.
The Duff is out now, and if you want to win a copy of the seminal high school flick The Breakfast Club you can do so by clicking below.
