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The Perfect Score
 Release
Date: January 30, 2004
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Brian Robbins
Screenwriter: Mark Schwahn, Marc Hyman, Jon Zack
Starring: Erika
Christensen, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Darius Miles, Bryan Greenberg,
Leonardo Nam, Leonardo Nam, Tyra Ferrell
Genre: Comedy, Crime
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for language, sexual content and some drug
references)
Official Website: PerfectScoremovie.com
Plot Summary: In "The Perfect Score," a group of six high
school students band together and develop a plan to heist the SAT exam in order
to prevent the test from unfairly defining who they'll become. Each in the group
has their own set of circumstances that lead them to the conclusion that the
only way to truly decide their own fate is to cheat the system. The unofficial
leader of the group is Kyle, an aspiring architect who dreams of attending an
Ivy League school but repeatedly scores below what is required for acceptance.
He develops the plan with his best friend Matty, whose low SAT scores result in
a rejection letter from Maryland, the university that his girlfriend attends.
Anna, who desires to meet her parents' standard of excellence but is badly in
need of some excitement, joins in and brings Desmond into the fold, the star
basketball player who at the urging of his mother decides to forgo the NBA for
college and needs to pass the SAT to get in. Providing the access inside the
local educational testing headquarters is Fransesca, an anti-establishment girl
who joins in the scheme for kicks. Completing the group is Roy, a loner who
wants in on the action after accidentally overhearing the plan. Although
the kids seemingly share nothing in common, they join together and while getting
to know each other, discover themselves in the process.
Reviewed by Peter Veugelaers © 2004
 - Don't
be deceived -- get out of cinema quick!
Why has cinema created a new and
fashionable but offensive sub-genre? The reason seems obvious enough. The
Perfect Score is representative of the commercial long reach of MTV, whose
parent company Viacom is a huge presence in the media world. Commercially viable
material comes out of the MTV film stables, sometimes at low cost, like 2002’s
big hit Jackass: The Movie, but that film and low budget The Perfect
Score are nonplus examples of a revealing trend that I’m reluctant to
embrace: film as a kind of non-story, advertising gimmick, a non-film perhaps,
although the celluloid remains the same.
Given that film is artifice and illusion then I shouldn’t
have a problem. This just expands the cinematic illusion for a younger market.
The overwhelming impression of Jackass and The Perfect Score is
not about storytelling, though; they’re patchworks from one idea that feels as
sugary and superficial as the latest Britney Spears video.
The Perfect Score goes one further and poses
self-importantly about the predicaments of egocentric High School students, the
ones that stand out from the crowd because of their conscience about student
rights except these guys are too cool for that – they’re more into scoring
their dreams. Please don’t give us any more condescending sermonising. The
effect misfires and we are given a superficial gospel about what it means to be
human. What becomes doubly ridiculous and laughable is the "twist"
ending.
The message of this film shouldn’t be taken seriously by
anyone when the outworking of the themes is stifled by slight characterisations
and storytelling. A group of teenagers feel the school exam system is disabling
them from achieving their life goals. So they decide to engage in finding out
the results of the SAT standardised tests by getting into the Princeton Testing
Centre one night (they can do this because a member of the group has a father
who manages the outfit).
So, the one idea, in essence, is this: how to cheat and
justify it (because the system sucks), don’t let people judge you for it, and
discover yourself in the process. It is shallow philosophy and shallow ethics
exacerbated by the style, thoughtless sense and shallow filmmaking quality.
Another film could get away with this kind of thing unnoticed if they were
subtle enough aided by good technique. Oceans 11 did this somewhat when
we are drawn into the clever stylised production values when all the same we
know that ripping off a casino (although seemingly justified in the film’s
text) is unethical to the letter and spirit of the law. The Italian Job
(2003) also did this entertainingly enough for the audience to get their ticket’s
worth.
At the movies we can distinguish reality from fantasy, and
muse about the way characters instigate their own form of justice, which would
otherwise lead a real person into confrontation with the law. In The Perfect
Score the outcome is not only shoddy quality (which includes not
surprisingly a non-stop soundtrack) but is noticeably inane and patronising to
the audience. A nod towards getting the motherless drugged-up smart computer
geek Roy (Nam) a life is better, even touching, but doesn’t redeem this from
its central effect. For a more meaningful documentary about similar subject
matter see Hoop Dreams.
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