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The Perfect Score (2004)
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Synopsis: High school senior Kyle (Chris Evans) gets a major shock when he discovers his SAT score isn't good enough to get him into college as an architecture major. A perfectionist, Kyle's resilient nature is sparked when he embroils his best friend Matty (Bryan Greenberg) in a madcap scheme to steal... High school senior Kyle (Chris Evans) gets a major shock when he discovers his SAT score isn't good enough to get him into college as an architecture major. A perfectionist, Kyle's resilient nature is sparked when he embroils his best friend Matty (Bryan Greenberg) in a madcap scheme to steal the SATs. The boys soon realize the enormity of the task ahead of them, and recruit an eclectic bunch of willing accomplices to help. Among their group are Francesca (Scarlett Johansson), an anti-authoritarian hipster whose father happens to work in the building where the elusive test scores are kept; Anna (Erica Christensen), an overachiever who flunked the test due to nerves; Desmond (Darius Miles), the school's star basketball player who wants to get into a good college; and Ray (Leonardo Nam), a hapless stoner who is only included in the group after overhearing Kyle and Matty planning the robbery in the school bathroom. Determined not to fail, the students overcome their different backgrounds and manage to work together by planning an SAT heist in meticulous detail. As the harebrained scheme becomes a reality, moments of bonding, hilarity, and a few lessons in life ensue, as well as a sly critique of the tests along race and gender lines. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Erika Christensen, Chris Evans, Bryan Greenberg, Scarlett Johansson, Darius Miles
Screenwriter: Mark Schwahn, Marc Hyman, Jon Zack
Producer: Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin
Composer: John Murphy
Reviews
What could, and should, have been as fun and daring as skipping school turns out to be as dull as a two-hour detention.
The work of a filmmaker and team of writers so conscious of their own formulaic crutch that they demand a production that feels like more than the sum of its parts.
...yesterday's news, another film that takes the audience for granted and expects them to be more forgiving than the mindless plot and lackluster direction.
The Perfect Score is amenable, enjoyable and as quickly forgotten as all those tricks you learned in your SAT prep class.
The filmmakers need to re-watch “Ocean’s Eleven” study up, and remind themselves of this important fact: Even teenagers want a movie that makes them think.
Is it a heist movie? A teen coming of age flick? A high school comedy? A morality play? It’s sort of all of those, but really none of them, as it doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Were it not for the recent "Arrival" of one Scarlett Johansson, The Perfect Score would still be holding down a shelf in the Paramount Pictures - Do Not Release office.
... Tries in vain to be both The Breakfast Club and Ocean's Eleven.
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