The DUFF (2015)
Certified: 12A
Duration: 101 minutes
Directed by: Ari Sandel
Starring: Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Bianca A. Santos, Allison Janney, Ken Jeong, Romany Malco, Skyler Samuels, Chris Wylde, Mahaley Manning, Nick Eversman
KRS Releasing Ltd
Teenager Bianca (Mae Whitman) is relatively happy. She is in high school, lives with her single mother Dottie (Allison Janney), who works as a self-help speaker, and has two best friends, Jess (Skyler Samuels) and Casey (Bianca A. Santos). She is studying journalism and her teacher Mr Arthur (Ken Jeong) has her high in his good books.
But her perception of herself and the world she lives in are blown away when her neighbour and high school football jock Wesley (Robbie Amell) tells her that she is a DUFF (designated ugly fat friend).
Bianca goes all out to prove she is not a DUFF. She makes a deal with Wesley so that he helps her turn into a dream catch; all this in a bid to get the boy of her dreams: Toby (Nick Eversman).
Bianca faces trouble from Wesley’s sometimes-girlfriend Madison (Bella Thorne) who becomes jealous of her and wants to sabotage her: she gets Caitlyn (Rebecca Weil) to take video shots of her as she makes a fool of herself.
Meanwhile, Bianca is so absorbed in her quest that she does not realise that Wesley is slowly falling for her.
The Duff is very similar to one of my favourite teen romantic comedies, She’s All That (1999), which despite being predictable, had a feel-good factor that was simply contagious.
The DUFF is the accumulation and amalgamation of all teen movies that came before it
Only time will tell if The Duff will have that kind of following, but it does share that feel-good factor which many films aim for but never get it right.
Whitman imbues the film with most of this fuzzy feeling. On the basis of this film, she really deserves to be going places as her role is constrained by the rules of the genre, yet she makes something different out of it. It is very hard to imagine this film without her and her charm is what makes this adaptation of Kody Keplinger’s novel such a treat.
Whitman also shows great comedic timing and her body language gives the movie an added touch.
The Duff is the accumulation and amalgamation of all teen movies that came before it, not the least of which is the iconic The Breakfast Club (1985) which it even references. Somewhere inside all the doozy and warm sentimentality there is a message of acceptance, self-worth and warmth that Whitman brings out.
Director Ari Sandel knows he is not reinventing the wheel and so plays the film to its strengths and keeps things spry, light and the focus on Whitman. It also helps that the very capable Thorne plays Whitman’s adversary, making her look even better.
The film’s script may not be as heavy into the satire as Mean Girls (2004) was, but it aims for the development of its characters and achieves an overall pleasing quality while being realistic at the same time – a very rare combination.