Not Another Teen Movie on DVD

The first fatal flaw of the filmmakers was that they didn't realize the title of their movie is not clever. It's exactly what we're all thinking, but drawing attention to it doesn't make us more anxious to see it.

How anyone can expect to make a good movie parodying movies that sucked in the first place is beyond us.

Not Another Teen Movie had the potential, but wasn't able to follow through. There are a few humorous moments, but nothing worth sitting through the whole 90 minutes for.

It's basically a combination of plots from other teen movies, the core of which being the bet between a popular jock and his buddies. He's to find the most unattainable girl in school, and turn her into the prom queen. There's also the group of misfits who vow to have sex by the end of the year, the cheerleader who wants to be prom queen, the best friend who's in love with the pretty ugly girl but can't have her, and the token black guy.

It's a take on everything from the Breakfast Club to American Pie.

What could have been a non-stop, hilarious parody, provides nothing more than a couple chuckles.

The main problem is that the writers got so caught up in parodying as many movies and characters as they possibly could, they forgot to make it funny. Most of the laughs come in the form of extreme toilet humor, which is at least in the tradition of most teen movies (modern ones, anyway).

Joel Gallen, who's famous to the MTV crowd, had an easy task of directing. All he needed to do was watch the teen movies his film is parodying, and redo the shots. Based on that, he did an excellent job.

Not Another Teen Movie would be great for those obsessed with the teen movie genre. Those not fond of a good portion of them are likely to waste 90 minutes.

For some odd reason, Columbia Tristar thought this film was worthy of a top-notch special edition, while films like Mothman Prophecies and Black Hawk Down are not (though Black Hawk Down will be getting a special edition at some point in the future). The disc features a great transfer, an average audio track, and a ton of supplements.

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with quality that is clear and crisp. Actually, this is one of the better transfers we've seen in the last couple of months, and we saw no flaws whatsoever.

The audio track is a little less spectacular. It's a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, but the audio never seems to stray from the front channels. Granted, a movie like this doesn't need it, so it's not really a horrible thing. Still, even if some music manages to creep out of the rear speakers; at least that way we know it's 5.1.

The extras are the real treat of the disc. First up is two audio commentaries, one by director Joel Gallen and co-writer Mike Bender, and the other by several of the cast members. The second is easily the more entertaining of the two, with the first being quite a bit dry and uninteresting. There is also a Fact Track, which presents facts on the screen in Pop-Up Video style. Next are 18 deleted scenes and the original ending. I always cringe when I watch deleted scenes from a bad movie, but most of these are mercifully short. There are three behind-the-scenes featurettes, an "Auditions Montage," a Marilyn Manson video, a Joel Gallen short film, "Test Your Teen Movie I.Q.," "Meet the Cast Promos," and the trailer.

This many extras should be included on every movie.

Not Another Teen Movie, from Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
90 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Jaime Pressly, Mia Kirshner and Randy Quaid
Written by Michael G. Bender & Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson and Phil Beauman & Buddy Johnson
Produced by Neal H. Moritz, Directed by Joel Gallen

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