‘The DUFF’
B+
We all love a Cinderella story.
We love to see the black sheep of the herd transform. The ugly duckling becomes the beautiful swan. The peasant becomes the princess.
We love Cinderella stories so much that Hollywood made a movie called “A Cinderella Story,” which spawned a franchise of other Cinderella stories, but with twists. We just can’t get enough of them, and that has hurt the genre.
Instead of being inspirational, they are predictable. They are loaded canons waiting to launch pitiful clichés down your throat and tell you that you like it, because the girl gets the boy and her new sense of style will protect her from all future harassment.
“The DUFF” approaches things differently.
Meet Bianca, a high school oddball. She’s an honor student with a love for horror films who doesn’t put much thought into her wardrobe.
Then, meet Bianca’s two best friends: Casey and Jess. Casey is a beautiful athlete. Jess is the overly sweet fashion queen.
In another time, Bianca would never be caught dead with these two unless they were shoving her in a locker. This is what makes “The DUFF” a breath of fresh air.
High school dramas have been telling us since we were children that high school is an organized system of social boxes. You have the jocks, the preps, the geeks and the goths. There is no way of changing or joining other boxes.
The truth is that system is long gone, and we would highly appreciate it if it would stay in the 1990s where we left it.
Jocks can be smart. Preps can play video games. Geeks can actually have great eyesight and do, in fact, know what a football is. Goths listen to Taylor Swift.
“The DUFF” acknowledges this social change and allows its characters to break out of their boxes, making them more relatable and likeable.
That doesn’t mean that the movie avoids all labels or the need to fit in.
When Bianca is called a DUFF, Designated Ugly Fat Friend, she becomes desperate to drop the label and find a place for herself in the crazy world of high school. She enlists the help of her childhood friend, Wesley, a football star failing science.
They work out a deal: Bianca helps him pass science, he makes her dateable.
This leaves room for some hilarious high school antics and witty dialogue between these polar opposite characters. And, of course, it allows time for chemistry to build between them and form a relationship you can’t even be annoyed with by the end of the film.
Yes, there are clichés in “The DUFF.” There are predictable moments. But they are the kinds of clichés and predictable moments you need in order for it to be a high school drama. And they are handled in ways that make them less exhausting and more fun.
