The Hot Chick (2002) - DVD Review

Film:
DVD:

Written by: Tom Brady and Rob Schneider
Directed by: Tom Brady
Starring: Rob Schneider, Anna Faris, Matthew Lawrence, Rachel McAdams, Eric Christian Olsen

Features:

• Running audio commentary by writer/director Brady
• Deleted Scenes
• Making-of featurette: "Hot Chick Yearbook"
• Music Video: "Starlight" by Zed

Released by: Buena Vista Home Video
Region: 1
Rating: PG-13
Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Run away!

One of the many clichés about high school is the popular girl: the pretty head cheerleader who's dating a cute jock (Lawrence), surrounded by a giggling girl posse, and is the biggest evil bitch in the school district. You know: the one most girls want to pin to the wall with pencils through her hands, fix her mouth shut with a staple gun, then slit her open with an Xacto knife. And we all know what most of the boys what to do her… wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

So we have this walking cliché, Jessica (McAdams), shoplifting some tacky magical ancient Assyrian earrings…then low life scum Clive (Schneider) manages to pocket one. Faster than you can say Freaky Friday, Jessica and Clive have done the ol' Body Switcheroo and Jessica has to deal with having a penis, her best friend (Faris) being attracted to her as a man, and dealing with not being The Hot Chick.

Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler must be true friends--I'm talking the kind that will help you bury the body afterwards. That’s the only explanation for this movie to be made. Cleverness is essential when dealing with clichés. Joss Whedon’s treatment of the cheerleader growing up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Tom Hanks acting like a child in an adult body in Big are excellent examples of this. This Rob Schneider abomination is not.

Everyone is a type, not actual characters. We have the Ditzy Best Friend, the Sweet Fat Girl, the Goth Chick, the Clueless Parents, and the Odd Little Brother. The so-called jokes range from the stupid to the downright insulting. I have no problem with stupid humor if it’s done well as in South Park, but from the hot wax to the near-fatal pillow fight to...well, practically the whole film is just stupid. This is a bad, bad movie.

This all makes the commentary by director Tom Brady unintentionally funny when he praises this waste of celluloid. He talks about how this movie has an important message about how people should look beyond their appearances. Maybe the message got lost among the dick jokes. He also praises to the heavens all the actors in the film especially the star, Rob Schneider, and their 'patron' Adam Sandler. I can't even begin to describe the self-delusion Brady is suffering from.

Also included is a music video from a forgettable band and some deleted scenes that are mildly interesting. One feature that was informative was the "Hot Chick Yearbook" or several making-of featurettes. They detail how Rob Schneider and Rachel McAdams worked on developing their 'alternate' characters, the blocking of the big fight scene, and how the group trained for their cheerleading scenes. You see these scenes as the crew films them then the finished product. But it isn't enough to save this terrible, terrible movie. Avoid The Hot Chick at all costs.

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