Extrovert 15 year old Cassie has just moved to a new town with her mother and has set herself a goal to be most popular girl in school before she hits sixteen and becomes a ‘real’ woman. She’s only got a week until that happens so she has got her work out but that doesn’t deter her as she immediately tries to crash the hippest group in her class. ‘Hi I’m Cassie Superstar Extraordinaire. You’re welcome’ is the way she introduces herself to everyone, but it cuts no ice with the two Heathers and Brett and Dirk their so-called boyfriends.
And that is the entire plot in a nutshell in this very camp and funny parody of all those affectionate 80’s teen school movies. This one however has its dark and slightly dirty side so its less a homage to John Hughes and more a tribute to John Waters especially as there is more than a passing resemblance to ‘Hairspray’s’ Tracey Turnblatt in chubby Cassie. Except our heroine is played by a 30 year old man, Brandon Alexander III who also wrote and co-produced. Alexander and his cohort Dudley Beene playing Maggie were very convincing tongue-in-cheek teenager girls who were far more innocent than they wanted to let on.
In fact where the thin plot got a tad too stretched at times it was a perfectly cast ensemble of some great comic actors that made the piece so immensely watchable, particularly Jack Plotnik (‘Wrong’), Judy Tenuta (‘Chant Mania’), Cassandra Peterson (‘Elivra Mistress of The Dark’) and Diane Salinger (‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’).
Its a fluffy piece in which you sense they had a great deal of fun making as such energy comes through all the silliness on the screen. There are no surprises at all. Heather gets de-throned, Cassie is worshiped (and just before she gets her first ‘womanly’ monthly visit, and a birthday cake to boot), and Maggie is about to get laid. And Dirk and Bruce? Well, they get each other…. I did say, there were NO surprises.
Great fun and a perfect choice for a date night at the movies.
