It’s a shame that “Not Another Teen Movie” is such a mixed bag, as it has a ton of material to derive some great laughs from. By now the movie theaters have been filled with teen movie fare, and there’s some good fodder for fun. Sadly “Not Another Teen Movie” has so much nonsense, but also a lot of really brilliant material that you’ll find yourself quoting for a while. It’s a good thing the funny fodder outweighs the sheer misfires by a few inches, or else “Not Another Teen Movie” would be a botched missed opportunity. “Not Another Teen Movie” spoofs everything from John Hughes flicks all the way to recent hits like “Bring It On”.
The subplot is taken from one of my least favorite teen flicks, “She’s All That,” with dips in to other recent teen hits and some classics like “Breakfast Club.” In the movie, the “popular jock” and gets dumped by the “popular chick” for a “weird guy” spoofing that weird kid from “American Beauty”. So, the “popular jock’s” friends make him a bet that he can’t make a prom queen out of the “pretty ugly girl” which in fact is very hot when all that crap comes off of her. My favorite character though was “the token black guy,” who was barely in the film and spouted words like “shit”, “damn”, and “that is whack”.
Granted, you might have to see about every teen flick from the eighties and nineties to get most of the jokes here, but when a reference delivers with a good sight gag, it offers some raucous laughs. There are some great cameos by Molly Ringwald, Melissa Joan Hart, and Mr.T that make this worth watching, and lest I forget some great eye candy from Jaimme Presley. While “Not Another Teen Movie” completely falls apart by the climax, it more than makes up for it with a solid first half that does a good job lampooning iconic teen movie moments. It’s no masterpiece, but if you like spoof movies, this might keep you giggling ‘til the end.