Film Review: ‘The DUFF’
Director: Ari Sandel
Cast: Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Allison Janney, Bianca Santos, Ken Jeong
Age Restriction: 13 L
Genre: Teen, Comedy
Runtime: 102 min
Release date: 30 April 2015
Teen comedies have been on the low for quite some time, and to think that 2010’s Easy A is the last memorable one that comes to mind is shocking, considering it’s been almost five years.
I first discovered The DUFF while scouring through actress Bella Thorne’s (Disney Channel’s Shake it Up TV series) upcoming filmography on Wikipedia. Back then (which was last year), The DUFF seemed a like a typical teen trash film that, I thought, would no doubt be awful.
Things changed when the first trailer released and made the film look promising, but average and clichéd at best. Then the reviews began pouring in and – surprisingly – The DUFF was well-received, scoring an unexpected 71% rating on critic website Rotten Tomatoes, and did decent business at the US Box Office.
The film follows Bianca Piper (Mae Whitman) – a high school student whose life is turned upside down when she discovers that she’s been labelled a DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). In the film, it’s explained that there’s a DUFF in every clique and it’s not necessarily the fat and ugly member, but the one who’s least popular, good-looking and more approachable as people outside the clique use DUFFs as a means of getting intel on the popular members of the clique.
In Bianca’s case, her two best friends are hot, gorgeous and popular while she’s just this plain, quirky and friendly girl with a bubbly personality. And of course, boys approach Bianca constantly and ask for information on her two best friends with Bianca completely clueless as to why. That is until the school jock Wesley "Wes" Rush (Robbie Amell) informs Bianca of her "duff-ness" leading her to request his help in reinventing herself.
From the surface, The DUFF may look like a typical clichéd lacklustre teen comedy, but as the saying goes: Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, because by giving the film a shot, you’ll discover that it’s surprisingly good fun.
The film’s premise may seem like a simple straightforward cliché, but that’s far from the case as it digs itself quite deep sending Bianca off on an emotional journey of self discovery, and the ramifications of how being different can cause critical judgment from your peers.
Bianca also wanders through self-doubt pondering why her two prettier and popular best pals would want to be friends with her in the first place.
The DUFF explores how the youth of today rely on and abuse social media as Bianca becomes a victim of cyber bullying, and the film’s antagonist and mean girl Madison Morgan’s (Bella Thorne) obsession with documenting everything in her life via a video phone, in an attempt to become a future reality star.
The film also explores how people use labels to try to define themselves and their obsession with wanting to conform to the in-crowd.
Despite all the negativity, The DUFF has its fair share of heart-warming moments as audiences learn about self confidence, individuality and not to give a damn of what others think. In other words, The DUFF is completely relatable.
The only issue with The DUFF is that the filmmakers had the opportunity to dig even further but failed to do so as their aim was for the film not to take itself too seriously. It’s a pity actually as this might’ve propelled The DUFF to reach the heights of other critically acclaimed teen comedies such as Mean Girls and Easy A. Despite this, The DUFF at least comes close to matching these levels.
And of course we have our comedic elements which make the film a little less gloomy and more upbeat as The DUFF is filled with hilarious jokes and sharply, witty written dialogue.
The cast all do a splendid job especially Whitman who completely owns the film with her charismatic performance as Bianca. Like a pro, Whitman brings panache and energy to the film and is completely likeable from start to finish. Robbie Amell is surprisingly good as jock Wes and has great on-screen chemistry with Whitman, while Allison Janney who plays Bianca’s mom Dottie also shines, adding comic relief.
Thorne could’ve easily portrayed the typical teen mean girl with her role, but instead ventures down a different path making her performance all that refreshing.
Verdict: From the surface, The DUFF may look like typical teen trash, but give it a shot and you’ll learn that it’s surprisingly good fun, quite deep and completely relatable.
