I felt like watching a really insipid, thoughtless film this afternoon and Not Another Teen Movie was it. There really is no solid plot: it's just an endless parade of gags and a really long game of Guess Which Teen Movie We Ripped This From. All the actors remind you of somebody else, because they're there basically to impersonate people from teen movies. The popular jock guy Jake Wyler looks like Freddie Prinze Jr, and the Rebellious Unique Girl Who Wants to Date the Popular Boy is a cross between Julia Stiles and Rachel Leigh Cook. They study in John Hughes High School, their athletics team is called the Wasps ("We have a huge Pride"), and they eat lunch in Anthony Michael Dining Hall. Of course the whole John Hughes ouvre is quoted largely, and even Molly Ringwald berates the lead characters.

The film doesn't attempt or even try to pass itself off as trying to understand the whole psychology of adolescence according to John Hughes. There is no pain in growing up, there is only humiliation, and pity the poor you if you happened to be on the wrong side of the popularity line. But then again, I'm not about to expect much from a film whose working title was "Ten Things I Hate About Clueless Road Trips When I Can't Hardly Wait To Be Kissed".