The Perfect Score (2004)
Living in Canada as I do, I can't really identify with the S.A.T.'s they have in the States. See up here, they barely care what you got in high schoool for marks. If you have money, or are willing to get student loans & pass a formality of tests, you're in baby! I think. Actually, I can't really identify with the whole college "Will I get in?"-paranoia experienced by most high school seniors, because I wanted to take a year off after high school. Then I got a job, & when I tried to get in the next year, I got screwed out of it. Really. It's a fact. That's pretty much around the time my life started to go to shit, but that's a story, not a review.
So anyways, The Perect Score is about six students who all have reasons to steal the answers to the S.A.T. retest. They're also high school cliches in physical form for us all to adore. Let's see, the ringleader is a little bit above average student, Kyle (Chris Evans), who mostly seems to want to pull off the heist so his best friend, the unfortunately named Matty Matthews (Bryan Greenberg) can pass the S.A.T.'s & go live with his girlfriend whom he hasn't spoken with in quite some time. All indications are that she's over him.
We also have the near-valedictorian student (Erika Christensen) who freezes up while taking the test due to all the hype her family has heaped upon her. The jock (Darius Miles) who is being told to go to college because his mom wants him to have the security of a degree if he doesn't make it to the NBA. The stoner (Leonardo Nam) who... exists I guess. He's the unfortunate choice to be the narrator of this movie. Probably because most dudes watching this movie wouldn't be able to handle the oh-so husky / sexy voice of the rebel girl, Scarlett Johansson. P.S. I love her for everything she is & all the things she's not.
Like I said, it's a very-cliched movie, you can see the plot twists coming a kilometre away (see, Canada baby!), there's even the black sheep embarassment brother (Matthew Lilliard). It's all there, ready for your inspection or grading, if you will. It's just a cookie-cutter movie, leave it at that. Why bother reviewing it you might ask? I love Scarlett Johansson for one, but I always hope that a movie will surprise me.
Some movies make you laugh out loud, others make you smile a little & nod. This movie was one of the latter, average, but pretty much what you were expecting. A bit of the camerawork made me "ooh" a little, but, as Andy & I had a convo about earlier in the day, that was probably just the director showing off. If the idiot stoner child wasn't the narrator, I'd give it a 3, but since he is, 2.5 outta 5.
Roger Ebert's review of The Perfect Score (2004)