This is a pretty flaccid idea for a plot. Four teenage kids at private school devise a methodology of cheating their way to the top, rather than working and studying for it. When the principal (Mary Tyler Moore!) decides this is the year she’s gonna bust ‘em good, the four have a more difficult time perpetrating the cheats than any year before. Can they manage it without destroying their close knit group and their status as most popular guys in school? (Yes, it’s that limp).

Aimed directly at the teenage market and their youthful rebellion, the storyline doesn’t have much to give and treats its intended audience like rejects. The lead character (a boy with the unlikely name of ‘Handsome’) is one of those teenagers who have all the best replies to adult insinuations, leaving them spluttering and flustered whilst he goes merrily on his way. Then when he exploits his father’s unfortunate porn addiction, this seems thrown in for laughs at how easily parents are to blackmail by their ‘purist’ offspring. Poor parents. How could they ever understand the machinations of a teenage mind?

Adding to this nonsense is the smartarse voiceover of the older Handsome sounding like Daniel Stern narrating The Wonder Years, except this guy is far more annoying (and that’s saying something). The cast is made up of a bunch of no names and with the plot it’s easy to see why. It’s chock full of clichéd images of boys burning schoolbooks, boys running down corridors escaping the irate janitor and boys fooling smart adults (including the exploitation of a gay teacher). This is one for the teenagers who don’t really care what they watch or those trying to learn new ways of cheating (which aren’t new anyway, just rehashed ideas of old).

My recommendation is cheat by reading this and saying you watched it. Or didn’t watch it. I’m not sure what will make you sound cooler there.

Naturally, a beautiful transfer accomplished without artefacts. Being a recent film there’s been no time to accumulate garbage and it looks great. The colours and flesh tones are all fantastic and the blacks are all true to their name. There is some loss of detail in the shadows, but there are so few of these it’s barely worth mentioning. As usual, another average film gets treated like royalty in the transfer department.

Dolby Digital 5.1 surround brings us plenty of nice quality sound, which comes in handy during the typical moments of teen music in the soundtrack (of course The Living End are featured with Prisoner of Society, don’t worry). All the dialogue is okay, mostly, though there are some instances of characters slurring that aren’t caused through drunkenness. All sound effects are okay with no use of stock sounds and, trendy as it is, the music does come across really well.

As far as extras are concerned the good people of Roadshow have included a Trailer that clocks in at one minute and 15 seconds. This also features an ‘Out soon on DVD and Video!’ at the end. Being a rental, I guess that’s acceptable.

This is probably best seen in its rental state rather than investing in it for the long term (should it see a retail release). As someone who left the teens behind him long ago, I’m not so far gone as to have forgotten them altogether. I remember the anti-adult feelings and all, but this is just pandering to the teen market. There’s no real substance and there aren’t even any new tips on how to cheat, which would have been a redeeming feature in some regard. Think carefully, young man, before you cheat yourself out of your money. You’re not too big to put over my knee!