Film Review

09 January 2009 04:29 BST

It's a Boy Girl Thing

Directed by Nick Hurran, out December 26th in cinemas, starring Samaire Armstrong, Kevin Zegers and Sharon Osbourne, running time approx. 94 minutes

In a nutshell…
Unoriginal teen chick-flick. Predictable.

What's it all about?

Woody Deane is the star quarterback of the high school football team while Nell Bedworth is a stuck-up swot who lives next door. Sworn enemies, they find themselves embroiled in an argument at a museum while on a field trip and a magical spell means they swap bodies overnight.

After each one goes about ruining the other's life for a while, they realise that they have to work together in order to help the other achieve their goals. Woody wants to get a scholarship to go to college, so he has to teach Nell how to use his body to play football; and Nell wants to get into Yale, so she has to get Woody to pass the interview to get in.

All this inevitably leads to one thing – and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what…

Who's in it?

Other than the bit-part for Sharon Osbourne, Samaire Armstrong is likely to be the actor that most will recognise for her part in hit American teen show The OC as Seth's love interest, Anna.

Kevin Zegers may look a lot like the actor who played Cory's brother Eric in another American teen show, "Boy Meets World", but he is in fact a relative unknown with few high-profile credits to his name. However, this film, although no cinematic work of genius, may make his name – simply for the fact that it is a teen chick-flick with a prime-time Christmas release.

As an example…

"What the hell is that?!" exclaims Nell (in Woody's body) as she discovers the delights of a gentleman's 'Morning Glory'.

Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars

If this is nominated for any of the Oscars, then it has obviously been a pretty poor year for films.

While this movie isn't appalling, it is little short of a brainless bit of entertainment that is about as deserving of critical acclaim as Pearl Harbour.

What the others say

"Has enough charm and humour to garner a 'pass' " – Gavin Burke, Entertainment Ireland

"Even the young market the filmmakers are clearly hoping to exploit will feel like they've seen it all dozens of times before" – Sam Jordison, Channel 4

So is it any good?

For a film premise that feels as old as the Bible, this latest body-swapping teen rom-com isn't all bad. Just mostly bad.

The lead roles are played by two actors who are clearly rising stars in their trade and the two have enough on-screen chemistry to carry what is a tired script, rehashing old jokes and well-trodden set-ups.

I liked Samaire Armstrong's character in The OC and she is equally likeable in this big-screen effort, while Kevin Zegers is sporadically funny and is sure to be a hit with the teenage girl target audience, too.

Overall, however, the film is pretty poor. With the exception of one or two funny one-liners, there is little original material mixed up with the hackneyed writing that is on offer here.

It'll pass an hour-and-a-half of your Christmas holidays but little more can be said of what was ultimately a straight-to-video experience.

3/10

Alistair Potter

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